His life is so filled with events that it’s almost the epitome of an adventurous lifestyle. From being blackmailed over nude photos to being banned from entering China, he’s tried it all. Of course, it’s no surprise that today’s feature is Brad Pitt.
Brad’s life is a true Hollywood story: from an ordinary, unknown boy to the most desired man of the present and a cinema star. His life story begins in Shawnee, Oklahoma, where the family of a small trading company owner and a school teacher lived. The talent for acting was first noticed in young Pitt after the family moved to Missouri and the boy started performing in school musicals. It was then that he dreamt of becoming an actor.
«I have amazing parents. They’ve lived their whole lives in one place, in one house. They say they don’t need more. They have friends whom they’ve been friends with since school. They are loyal people. And parental loyalty gives a child confidence, right? My childhood, and my brother’s and sister’s, was marked by this confidence in the stability of our lives, in the belief that if something bad happened, it would surely be overcome. Stability was always a priority for my father, not in terms of material wealth. He says money is not a primary necessity; it’s like a fire extinguisher in the house, needed for safety.
The primary necessity for him is trust in each other. And my mom always believed that the most important thing she could give us was herself, her time. She always put us to bed herself and talked to us as much as we wanted before sleep. I try to look at the family from their, my dad’s and mom’s, perspective: the family should become the safest place in the world for a person, free from anxieties.»
At first, things didn’t go smoothly in Brad Pitt’s career. When he left university and moved to Los Angeles, he was willing to work in a chicken suit to afford acting lessons. It was extremely difficult for the newcomer to break into acting jobs, so the most he could hope for at the time was roles in soap operas and episodic roles in lesser-known series. Additionally, Brad didn’t hesitate to take on roles in commercials.
«I just loved to play, to act. I wanted to show it to people, and that’s wonderful. What I do, and how I achieved it, just reminds me that we’re all just humans. I feel boundless love for what I do, and that gives me strength. It’s an incredible feeling.»
Things started to turn around when in 1911 Brad played a small role in the film «Thelma & Louise.» But the real breakthrough came in 1994 when he auditioned for a role in the movie «Interview with the Vampire,» alongside stars of the time like Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas. After that, Brad became more noticeable to the general public, which, along with his attractiveness, attracted the interest of tabloids. Pitt firmly grasped this opportunity, and since then, his name has rarely disappeared from the pages of glossy magazines.
«Of course, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word success is ‘luck.’ But it’s not just luck that makes people successful. I would say that you always have to at least try to find something new. It’s not easy, you’ll make mistakes, but that’s also good because we learn from our mistakes. Actually, the best thing I’ve learned is the ability to learn. We can learn anything, people are capable of it, you just have to not only believe but also work on it tirelessly.»
Brad never wanted to rely solely on his appearance, so he constantly worked on improving himself as an actor and spared no effort on set. But the excessive attention from the media to his personal life annoyed him so much that the actor wanted to disappear for a while and never appear in front of the camera again. Fortunately, he found the strength within himself to overcome this, and cinema got another wonderful film — «Fight Club,» which became a cult embodiment of how, despite depression, people break themselves and overcome difficulties.
«When all this started to get to me, I tried to just run away. I wanted to avoid pain, unpleasant feelings. I just couldn’t deal with it, so I started looking for something that could help me escape from all this. It’s drugs, it’s alcohol, you just want to shut yourself somewhere and sit alone. I don’t even know how to describe it… But I realized that I no longer want to run away. I want to stand and accept these difficulties, to resist this cruel force. Not to be afraid of it. You have to come to this. Just understand it and be grateful to the people around you, the birds in the trees, and everything else.»