Hollywood actor Brad Pitt has opened up about his “profound” grief a year after the death of his mother.
Brad Pitt has opened up about his “profound” grief a year after the death of his mother.
The Hollywood actor, 62, was left devastated by the loss of his mom, Jane Pitt, in August 2025 and he’s now opened up about his heartache 12 months on revealing grief leaves a “gaping hole” but also a “profound beauty”.
He told Esquire magazine: “I think grief is probably the most leveling of all emotions … That’s an understatement, even. Loss is certainly the most profound thing a human can endure. And the loneliness that can ensue is the greatest torture.”
Brad added that he’s keeping in close contact with his dad William and he’s paying regular visits to him in Missouri, but he told the publication they rarely have deep conversations about their shared loss.
He said: “Let’s just say it’s better to be the one who goes first. … But we’re country people. We don’t go in depth, you know what I mean? Every now and then it’ll just be one line that cuts to the core, and then we kind of skip on.”
Later in the interview, Brad returned to the subject of grief once again and confessed there’s no real strategy to “climb out of it”.
He explained: “It’s a hard one to square. But I’m going to go back to: I think the challenge is to hold both. Grief, if you survive it, leaves a gaping hole, but it also leaves profound beauty. It’s an aching beauty, but it’s beauty …
“I don’t see it as climbing out of it. It’s going through it and trying and trying and trying and trying to the point of exhaustion and then trying again. I don’t want to ignore the place where you run up against the wall.
“But I just one day woke up, and it just felt a little sunnier and the air felt a little sweeter. Just microdoses of it.”
He went on to add: “Maybe we’re looking at it the wrong way. Maybe we’ve got to start with letting go of all control, that need, that belief about the way things should be or what should have been or how things are supposed to be and then trying to control it, trying to hammer and tong it into some kind of shape, which is impossible.
“Maybe that’s really the road to waking up and the sun’s a little brighter one day and the air’s a little sweeter. And that in itself is acceptance, I would say.”
Read the full interview with Brad Pitt at https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/a73360477/brad-pitt-interview-2026/
Brad Pitt describes ‘profound’ grief after mother’s death
