Brad Pitt may have aged like fine wine, but his lifestyle hasn’t always been the picture of health. In an interview on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the actor described the period leading up to his role in the 1995 thriller Se7en as "the unhealthy time" of his life.
The 52-year-old admitted that it was a challenging period in his life, largely due to a string of acting job rejections. "I would wake up... I would get a bong load, I would have four Coca-Colas on ice. No food," he shared.
© Getty"This particular summer, and I watched the O.J. trial... and trying to figure out, 'What do I do next? What do I do next?'"
However, Brad's fortunes changed when he came across the script for the David Fincher film Se7en. "And then I read this script, my dear friend and manager and, basically my sister now, Cynthia, sends it over," he explained. "She says, 'You’ve got to read this.' I read the first seven pages, I call her up, I go, 'Are you kidding me? Like, the cliché old cop wants out, the young cop comes in, he's looking at his trophies? His high school football trophies?' She goes, 'Just finish it.' And then I go meet Finch... he was just talking about films like I'd never heard anyone speak about film."
© Getty"I just got the jones back," he added. "Finding that thing kind of, it just reinvigorated what I wanted out of this thing, what's possible."
The role would also introduce him to his former girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. The couple dated for three years after they met on the set and they got engaged in December 1996. However, the romance was short lived as the split only a few months later.
Gwyneth admitted she was "totally heartbroken when we broke up" during an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast. "It was the right thing at that time, but it was really hard," she shared.
© Getty"He's a great guy. He's wonderful, I really like him a lot."
She continued: "Brad was like the sort of major chemistry, love of your life, kind of, at the time."
© Getty ImagesBrad went on to marry Jennifer Aniston after his split from Paltrow, and later, Angelina Jolie in 2014. The former couple's divorce was finalized in December 2024 following a long legal battle over shared assets and claims of abuse. The former couple share six children.
The actor has been in a relationship with Ines de Ramon since 2022, however, the couple have largely kept their relationship private and only made their first public appearance in 2024 at the British Grand Prix.
