Dark Secrets Brad Pitt Tried To Hide

As an actor, Brad Pitt has built an incredibly successful career. Appearances in movies such as 1995's "Twelve Monkeys," 1999's "Fight Club," and 2005's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" helped turn Pitt into a superstar. He's also netted two Academy Awards during his career. Pitt took home a Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" in 2020, and he also shared the Best Picture Oscar in 2014 for his role as a producer on "12 Years a Slave."

Alongside his glittering Hollywood career, Pitt has regularly found himself talked about in the tabloids, particularly due to his romantic relationships with fellow celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. However, Pitt seems to be much more focused on the movies he makes rather than the stories being told about him in the press. "I'm one of those creatures that speaks through art," Pitt told GQ in 2022. "I just want to always make. If I'm not making, I'm dying in some way." 

However, the actor hasn't been able to escape every rumor and report made about him, particularly when it comes to more serious matters. These are some of the dark secrets Brad Pitt has tried to hide.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's romance officially came to an end on January 7, 2005, when they released a joint statement to People saying, " ... we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media." While their initial PR suggested that their split didn't involve anyone else, it would later transpire that Pitt's connection with Jolie was perhaps bigger than he had led his wife to believe. 

During an interview with Vanity Fair in September 2005, one of Aniston's friends explained that the "Friends" star had accepted Pitt's insistence that Jolie wasn't a factor in the breakup. "She's not suggesting she didn't know there was an enchantment, and a friendship," Kristin Hahn told the publication. "But Brad was saying, 'This is not about another woman.'" However, it would later transpire that perhaps more had been going on between Pitt and Jolie than was initially detailed.

In 2006, Jolie revealed that she had been excited to get to work every day while filming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" because of her connection with Pitt, via People. Aniston would later respond to Jolie's comments, telling Vogue in 2008, "There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening." She continued, "That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool."

When rumors about Brad Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie started to swirl, many people started taking sides, which sometimes involved wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Team Aniston" or "Team Jolie." Tabloid reports also started to suggest that Pitt and Aniston's split was due to him wanting to start a family, which he did soon after with Jolie, while the "Friends" star was allegedly firmly focused on her career. Years later, the truth would come out, with Aniston revealing in a 2022 interview with Allure that she'd undergone years of IVF treatments, but was ultimately unsuccessful in having a baby. 

One of Aniston's friends addressed the fact that Pitt appeared to fare better in the media during the couple's divorce, particularly when it came to the idea of having children. "When Brad and Jen were in the marriage, having a baby was not his priority — ever," the friend told Vanity Fair. "... whereas for Jen it was much more immediate. So is there a part of Brad that's diabolical? Did he think, I need to get out of this marriage, but I want to come out smelling like a rose, so I'm going to let Jen be cast as the ultra-feminist and I'm going to get cast as the poor husband who couldn't get a baby and so had to move on?" Unfortunately, the "Murder Mystery" star had to endure years of painful speculation, and Pitt never changed the narrative.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt appeared to officially confirm their relationship in January 2006, when Jolie's two adopted children, son Maddox and daughter Zahara, changed their surnames to Jolie-Pitt. In May 2006, Jolie gave birth to the couple's third child, Shiloh, and in March 2007, Jolie adopted the couple's fourth child, son Pax, from Vietnam. Finally, in July 2008, Pitt and Jolie welcomed fraternal twins, daughter Vivienne and son Knox. Six years later, in August 2014, Pitt and Jolie decided to tie the knot, surrounded by their six children. Sadly, though, the fairytale didn't last, and Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, citing "irreconcilable differences."

It was soon reported that Jolie had allegedly filed for divorce following an incident that took place on a plane journey between France and California, which involved the couple's children. According to The New York Times, it was later revealed in a legal filing made by Jolie's team, "Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face ... grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her ... he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children." In FBI records obtained by Rolling Stone, it was ultimately determined by the United States Attorney's Office that Pitt wouldn't face charges for the alleged violence. According to further details revealed in the FBI report, the incident was so serious that Jolie said she felt like a hostage on the plane.

In 2020, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's divorce proceedings hit a speed bump when the "Tomb Raider" star requested in a legal filing that Judge John W. Ouderkirk be removed from the case, citing conflicts of interest, via AP. Jolie's filing suggested that Ouderkirk was involved in other cases involving Pitt's attorney Anne C. Kiley, with the "Eternals" star suggesting that the judge wouldn't be able to remain impartial in her divorce case. 

Pitt's team responded to Jolie's filing days later, via Page Six, with their own papers, explaining, "Judge Ouderkirk has had a well-documented history with the parties to this proceeding their counsel, including, without limitation, being hand-selected by Jolie to preside over the couple's nuptials in 2014 and serving as a neutral in several matters involving attorneys on both sides of this case." Ultimately, the judge was removed from the couple's divorce proceedings in July 2021, as it was deemed that he hadn't disclosed some of his business relationships prior to the case.

Brad Pitt co-starred with Marion Cotillard in 2016 movie "Allied," which tracks the relationship between a French Resistance fighter and a Canadian intelligence officer during World War II. It wasn't long before rumors started emerging about Pitt's relationship with his new co-star, despite the fact that Pitt was married to Jolie and Cotillard had been in a committed relationship with French actor Guillaume Canet since 2007. After news broke that Jolie had filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016, speculation started to swirl that Pitt's alleged affair with Cotillard may have contributed to the split.

A source alleged to Page Six that Jolie had gone so far as to hire a private investigator to spy on her husband. The source also alleged that the investigator had discovered that Pitt was cheating on his wife, which led to the couple's divorce. However, a source close to Cotillard staunchly denied the affair rumors to the publication, and Canet defended his partner against the allegations in an Instagram post. While it seems highly likely that the rumors regarding Pitt and Cotillard were, in fact, untrue, Pitt's reputation precedes him.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's lengthy divorce and unsettled custody battle meant that Jolie retained sole custody of their six children, with Pitt receiving visitation rights only, the Independent reported in September 2023. Following allegations that Pitt may have verbally and physically abused Jolie and their children during a flight in September 2016, per Vulture, it's perhaps unsurprising that Pitt allegedly doesn't have the best relationship with some of his kids.

In November 2023, it was reported that Jolie and Pitt's son, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, allegedly posted a scathing message aimed at his dad on his Instagram Stories on Father's Day in 2020, per the Daily Mail. "You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell," he reportedly wrote. "You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want ... but the truth will come to light someday." Pax reportedly ended the post by writing, "So Happy Father's Day, you f****** awful human being." Pax also alleged that the children were scared of Pitt, and wrote (via The Standard), "You time and time and again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person."

In reaction to the post, sources claimed via Yahoo! News that Pax's statements were untrue and that Pitt has nothing but respect for his six children. In October 2023, it was reported that Pitt had reconciled with all of his children except for his eldest son Maddox.