Brad Pitt opened up about how he dealt with life following his messy split from ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
Pitt, 58, spoke about how his friendship with singer Nick Cave and sculptor Thomas Houseago bloomed in the wake of the divorce announcement.
The “Bullet Train” actor first met Cave on set of “Johnny Suede” in 1991. Houseago was added to the trio in 2016 after Pitt met him at a New Year’s Eve party.
“Our mutual misery became comic,” Pitt said of his friendship with Houseago in an interview with the Financial Times. “And out of this misery came a flame of joy in my life. I always wanted to be a sculptor; I’d always wanted to try it.”
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At this time, Jolie had just filed for divorce from Pitt following a heated altercation during a private plane ride. The fight led the “Girl, Interrupted” star to accuse Pitt of abuse.
Pitt spent a lot of time at Houseago’s studio during this time period.
The “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” actor used this time to work on his art skills.
“It’s all about self-reflection,” Pitt told the outlet about his sculptures and art. “I was looking at my own life and really concentrating on owning my own s—: where was I complicit in failures in my relationships, where have I misstepped.”
“For me, it was born out of ownership of what I call a radical inventory of self, getting really brutally honest with me, and taking account of those I may have hurt.”
The actor also opened up about learning to be exactly who you are and having friendships where you feel “safe.”
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“It’s just exhausting to be anything but who you are,” Pitt told the outlet. “You have to understand, at least where I grew up, we’re more the Clint Eastwood character; you hold everything within, you’re capable, you can deal with anything, you don’t show weakness. I see that in my dad and the older generations of actors, and, man, it’s exhausting.”
“As I get older, I find such a comfort in friendships where you can be [completely yourself], and I want that to extend in the outer world,” he continued. “What people make of it: I’m fine. I feel safe here because there’s a focus on our struggles as human beings, because it’s fraught with peril. And joy as well.”
“I find I have to walk with the pain I experience, and I have to walk with the joy, the beauty.”
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Pitt is currently involved in a court battle with Jolie, in which the actress recently accused the actor of choking one of their children. Despite finalizing their divorce in 2019, the two remain in a custody battle over their French winery, Chateau Miraval.
“Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her,” according to the court filing obtained by Fox News Digital.
A representative for Pitt did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegation, but a source familiar with the star told Fox News Digital that the allegations are false.
“She continues to rehash, revise and re-imagine her description of an event that happened six years ago by adding completely untrue information each time she fails to get what she wants,” the source said.