Brad Pitt graces the latest cover of GQ magazine alongside his “F1” co-star Damson Idris and producer Lewis Hamilton. The racing movie arrives in theaters this summer after a longer-than-expected production that got shut down for an entire year amid the Hollywood strikes. Pitt was also settling his divorce from Angelina Jolie as “F1” filming came to an end at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
“My personal life is always in the news,” Pitt told the publication about filming movies amid public scrutiny. “It’s been in the news for 30 years, bro. Or some version of my personal life, let’s put it that way.”
When asked if filming “F1” acted as a “refuge” from all the public attention around his personal life, Pitt responded: “It’s been an annoyance I’ve had to always deal with in different degrees, large and small, as I do the things I really want to do. So, it’s always been this kind of nagging time suck or waste of time, if you let it be that. I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“Mostly I feel pretty… My life is fairly contained,” Pitt added. “It feels pretty warm and secure with my friends, with my loves, with my fam, with my knowledge of who I am, that, you know, it’s like this fly buzzing around a little bit.”
GQ then asked Pitt directly if there is “relief” now that he is “on the other side of the divorce finally being finalized,” to which the Oscar winner answered: “No, I don’t think it was that major of a thing. Just something coming to fruition. Legally.”
Pitt and Jolie settled their divorce on Dec. 30, 2024 after eight years of legal disputes. Jolie’s lawyer, James Simon, said in a statement at the time: “More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family. This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”
The once-Hollywood power couple were at the center of global headlines in 2016 when an alleged physical altercation between them occurred on a private plane. Pitt allegedly “choked” one of his children, “struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her,” per Jolie’s lawsuit against Pitt. She filed for divorce a few days after the alleged incident.
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In April 2024, Jolie’s lawyer filed a claim that alleged Pitt’s physical abuse “started well before” the 2016 incident. Pitt had accused Jolie in 2022 of violating “contractural rights” when she sold her half of their Château Miraval winery without his knowledge. Jolie’s lawyers fired back at Pitt in their countersuit, accusing him of not allowing Jolie to sell her half of the winery unless she signed “a nondisclosure agreement that would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt’s physical and emotional abuse of her and their children.”
With his personal life seemingly on more stable ground and “F1” arriving in theaters across the world in late June, Pitt seems reinvigorated as an actor. The Oscar winner sparked retirement rumors in 2022 when he said he was on the “last leg” of his acting career, although he later clarified that still meant he had many years left to explore his craft. “F1” proved to Pitt that retirement is certainly not imminent.
“Man, I’ve been doing this for a while and was wondering: Do I have more stories to tell? Do I have anything to add to this? Is there still any excitement I can find from this?” Pitt told GQ. “[This film] just reinvigorated the whole thing again for me.”
Pitt’s acting career will continue not only with “F1” this summer but also future film projects such as “Heart of the Beast,” a Navy SEAL drama that reunites the actor with his “Fury” director David Ayer, and a “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” sequel in which Pitt will reprise his Oscar-winning role of Cliff Booth for director David Fincher and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino.
From Variety US