Brad Pitt© Getty Images

Brad Pitt talks bringing 'personal embarrassments and pain' to his latest role

The 55-year-old stars in 'Ad Astra'


SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 1:29 PM EDT

Brad Pitt’s perspective has changed and he’s blaming it on age. The 55-year-old Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star opened up about his attitude towards roles and fame. "It's just getting f –ing older!” he told GQ. “How you become more aware of time, and you've had more experience, good and bad, with people. And your own wins and losses—the older you get, they don't seem like so much of a win or so much of a loss. Who you spend your time with, how you spend time—it has just become much more important to me.”

© Getty Images

Brad Pitt opened up about his life in the newest issue of GQ

One of the more important parts of growing up was learning the benefit of being a little embarrassed and putting that to use. “It's about bringing my personal experience, my personal humor, my personal, um, embarrassments, and my personal pains,” he said. “When I watch [Christian] Bale or [Tom] Hardy, I can't do what they do. I love watching them. And I couldn't step into that role.” But: “I want to do the same thing on my end.”

It was a conversation with his co-star that made him realize it was time to look at things differently. “Leo and I were having this conversation the other day. I hit this point in the late '90s or early 2000s, where I realized I was chasing these interesting [roles], yet I was failing to live as interesting a life as I thought I could.” Brad, who is father to children, Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13 and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, is content with scaling back his Hollywood life and doing “dad things” like sculpting and watching movies.

In July, the star, who has been in the front of the screen for over two decades, hinted that he will eventually say goodbye to the front of the camera. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I enjoy doing other things,” he told People. “I think that one day I’ll just wake up and organically it’ll be done. Maybe I won’t wake up and that’s why it’ll be done.”