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After seven years of sobriety, Brad Pitt has revealed that he resumed drinking alcohol in moderation — an approach that has raised concerns among some addiction experts.
In an Esquire interview published on Aug. 10, the actor said, “I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon.”
Pitt shared that he now drinks “in a more restrained manner,” saying that he doesn’t consume “big quantities” of alcohol.
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“I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me,’” he acknowledged. “I have to be professional about it.”
Pitt once spoke about his sobriety in a 2019 New York Times interview, disclosing that he’d spent 18 months in Alcoholics Anonymous. “I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges,” he said.
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Jessica Steinman, a Los Angeles addiction specialist and chief clinical officer for No Matter What Recovery, generally advises against people returning to alcohol after a problematic relationship with it, warning that “testing the waters” can potentially be “dangerous.”
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines alcohol use disorder (AUD) as an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational or health consequences. The condition can range from mild to severe.
“There are people who struggle with substances and take a very large break, have a long period of sobriety and recovery, and they may choose to integrate it back into their lives,” Steinman, who was not diagnosing Pitt with AUD, told Fox News Digital.
“As an addiction professional, as someone who’s been in this field for a very long time, I don’t see a whole lot of success with that.”
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Although some people do successfully return to substances after needing to stop, Steinman considers them “anomalies and exceptions to the rule.”
“People think, ‘Oh, I’ve gone this long. I think I’m going to be able to manage it – I have the skills now. I have tools,’” she said.
“I liken it to diabetes or heart disease – you have to manage this health issue.”
Addiction can alter the brain’s reward system, she said, making it highly responsive to the dopamine release associated with drinking or substance use.
“And that doesn’t go away – it lays dormant,” Steinman said, comparing it to a bear in hibernation. “If you wake that bear … life can quickly become unmanageable. So they want to be very mindful of that happening.”
The NIAAA notes that alcohol addiction involves changes across multiple brain systems related to rewards, stress, decision-making and learned responses to alcohol-related cues, and that some of those changes can continue even after drinking stops.
For those struggling with substance-use issues and mental health issues, it’s a “lifelong issue” that must be managed like any other chronic illness, according to Steinman.
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“I liken it to diabetes or heart disease – you have to manage this health issue,” she said. “And it’s the same thing for alcoholism and substance use issues.”
While NIAAA acknowledges that alcohol addiction can leave some people vulnerable to relapse, the agency notes that each recovery trajectory is unique.
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For someone who has returned to drinking after a period of sobriety, Steinman said there are certain warning signs that can indicate the return of problematic patterns. Those might include escalating consumption, erratic behavior, drinking alone, secretly drinking and drinking during the day.
Moderation can also mean different things to different people, she noted.
“Is it one drink a day? Is it a drink at dinner only? I’ve had people try out moderation by not having liquor at all and just sticking to beer and wine,” Steinman said. “So it’s all these different trials that they’re doing when someone starts seeing an escalation.”
Anyone who is noticing problematic behaviors with alcohol or drug consumption should speak with an addiction counselor, she advised.
For people with alcohol use disorder, the NIAAA says it is generally recommended to abstain from drinking for the “greatest chance of long-term success.”
However, the agency also notes that some people can return to occasional drinking without resuming problematic use, and says specific treatment goals should be decided between the patient and a doctor or addiction specialist.
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