A funny thing happened to Brad Pitt while making his new movie, F1 — the 61-year-old Hollywood star fell in love with acting again. “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?” he said during a recent GQ interview, noting that playing car racing vet Sonny Hayes in the action flick (in theaters June 27) and getting to drive modified vehicles on real F1 tracks at 180 mph “reinvigorated the whole thing” for him. Says a source close to Pitt: “It was a really exciting environment for Brad.”
F1 — which cost more than $200 million and took three years to make — marks a return to form for Pitt, who built his career on blockbusters like World War Z and Troy. He has a slew of new projects in the works, including the sequel to 2019’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (for which he won an Oscar) and a film and docuseries about motorcycle racing with Channing Tatum. He’s riding high personally, too: In late 2024, after a bitter eight-year battle, he and ex-wife Angelina Jolie finalized their divorce, and he and his girlfriend of over two years, jewelry designer Ines de Ramon, 35, are going strong. “Brad’s in a good place,” says the Pitt source.
It took some work to get there. Pitt revealed in 2017 that he’d gotten sober and started therapy. “He’s done a lot of therapy over the years,” says a second Pitt source. Work has been a stabilizing force. (His production company, Plan B, keeps him busy behind the scenes, and he’s also launching a new linen line this month via his God’s True Cashmere luxury brand, which he cofounded with holistic healer Sat Hari). In his GQ interview, he revealed some hard-earned wisdom about tuning out the noise and focusing on what matters. “My life is fairly contained,” he said. “It feels pretty warm and secure with my friends, with my loves, with my fam, with my knowledge of who I am.”
All signs point to it being the summer of Pitt. (Early reviews of F1 predict a massive box office success.) “Brad knows F1 will be a hit,” the second source tells Us Weekly. “It’s thrilling for him.”
And yet, the shadow of a dark cloud hovers in the distance. Five of the six kids he shares with Jolie (Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox) have publicly distanced themselves from him (Shiloh legally dropped his name on her 18th birthday; Zahara and Vivienne also appear to go by “Jolie” only. In 2020, Pax shared a since-deleted Instagram post calling Pitt a “world-class a**hole” and Maddox dodged questions about mending his relationship with Pitt in 2019).
The estrangements occurred amid Pitt’s brutal legal tug-of-war with Jolie, 50, over custody issues and their French winery, Château Miraval (the fight over the $164 million property continues in a separate lawsuit; a trial is expected to begin next year.) In court documents filed in 2022, Jolie alleged that a drunken Pitt assaulted and verbally abused her and two of their children during a trip aboard a private plane in 2016. (Pitt denied the allegations and was cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI.)
Still, the world roots for him. Despite some detractors — in 2024, Slate ran an article called “Why We Can’t Quit Brad Pitt,” in which his enduring appeal was questioned given Jolie’s abuse accusations and the fact that he ditched first wife Jennifer Aniston for Jolie in 2005 — he has not been canceled. Fans clamor for him, and costars rave about him. (“Brad’s always been someone everyone has loved to work with,” says the first source.)
Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR, tells Us Pitt’s Greek God looks do a lot of heavy lifting (“When you’re that genetically gifted, the scandal has to work twice as hard to stick,” he says), adding that the public forgives Pitt “because he never comes across as smug and seems vaguely apologetic for being Brad.” Indeed, Pitt took accountability for some of his behavior in a 2017 GQ story, saying he’d been “looking at my weaknesses and failures and owning my side of the street.” Says the first source: “The public has seen he’s someone who’s been able to be self-aware and self-reflective. Years ago, he acknowledged his mistakes and he’s worked to improve them.”
By and large, Pitt has kept his head down, only addressing Jolie’s allegations through his lawyers. “In the modern fame game, where celebrities rush to share their trauma in an Instagram carousel or recount their healing journey via podcast, Brad did the one thing no one expects anymore,” notes Borkowski. “He kept quiet.” Evan Nierman, founder and CEO of PR firm Red Banyan, agrees it was a smart tactic. “That silence gave him control,” says Nierman. “Instead of feeding the headlines, he let them run their course while he focused on work.”
Nierman adds that Pitt has mastered the art of being visible without being available. “By keeping his personal life offline and out of reach, he’s created mystery during a time when everyone else is overexposed. The less he chases attention, the more magnetic he becomes. Brad knows exactly how he’s seen. You don’t stay at the top of Hollywood for this long without understanding the game. Instead of forcing the story, he stays in control by letting it unfold on his terms, and that’s exactly what keeps people intrigued.”
Maintaining a divide between his public persona and personal life has served him well. “Brad has always had a good balance between being in the spotlight and having a private life,” says the first source. The second source tells Us Pitt spends his downtime sculpting and listening to music and has “embraced” a quieter lifestyle in recent years. “He likes a slower [pace] now,” explains the source, adding that the actor surrounds himself with “a tight circle” of longtime friends.
The second source says that those close to the actor are aware of how difficult the estrangement from his kids has been. “They know about the deep emotional weight he carries, particularly about his family,” explains the source, noting that Pitt “has made several efforts to reconnect with his kids.” He sees the twins “periodically,” adds the source, “but the rest of the relationships are strained. It’s caused him a lot of heartbreak.” Still, “He’s known to process things quietly and privately.”
His romance with de Ramon brings stability and calm. (Us previously reported that de Ramon moved into Pitt’s Los Feliz house in early 2024; he told GQ their public debut at the 2024 British Grand Prix wasn’t “calculated,” adding, “Life just evolves. Relationships evolve.”) The second source says Pitt is “cautious” about getting married again after his messy, drawn-out divorce from Jolie. However, “he has shown his commitment to Ines,” stresses the source. “She is very understanding, and [they] are on the same page. For now, they value companionship and a relationship without pressure.”
He’s celebrating his wins where he can. “Brad’s looking forward to doing publicity for F1 because he loves the film and [enjoys] talking about it,” says the first source. “He’s focused on the positives in his life.”
