Brad Pitt credits Bradley Cooper with helping him get sober
Brad Pitt has been open about his sobriety journey over the last few years, but the actor just revealed there was an influential figure behind-the-scenes: Bradley Cooper.
On Wednesday night, Pitt received the Best Supporting Actor award during the annual National Board of Review gala and Cooper was on hand to present the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star with the honor. Pitt, 56, gave his friend a shoutout on stage.
"Thank you, Bradley. Bradley just put his daughter to bed and rushed over here to do this," Pitt said. Cooper, 45, shares 2-year-old daughter, Lea, with Irina Shayk.
"He's a sweetheart," Pitt continued, "I got sober because of this guy and every day has been happier ever since. I love you and I thank you."
Pitt stopped drinking after his contentious split from Angelina Jolie. He first revealed he was sober during an interview with GQ in May 2017.
"I was boozing too much," he explained. “It’s just become a problem. And I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again. ... Truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good."
The actor said he gave up everything besides alcohol when he started a family with Jolie. When asked how he simply stopped drinking, the star said, "Don’t want to live that way anymore."
Pitt also began going to Alcoholics Anonymous. In an interview with the New York Times in September, the Golden Globe winner shared that he had been going to an all-male AA group for a year and a half.
"I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privilege," he explained.
"You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard," the actor continued. "It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself."
No one in the group ever exposed Pitt to the tabloids.
"It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself," he added. "There’s great value in that."
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