Brad Pitt‘s decision to drink again is raising eyebrows not only among his fanbase, but also with the sober friend who once helped him turn his life around.

The Oscar winner’s somewhat shocking reveal in his recent Esquire magazine interview, along with reports that he drank at Taylor Swift’s wedding, might have his inner circle concerned. Bradley Cooper, who has been sober since 2004, was instrumental in helping Pitt during his darkest time.

It’s not just hearsay; the Fight Club star told the entire world at the 2020 National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala after Cooper handed him his statuette onstage.

“Bradley just put his daughter to bed and rushed over here to do this. He’s a sweetheart. I got sober because of this guy. And every day’s been happier ever since,” Pitt told the crowd. “I love you, and I thank you.”

With the recent developments about Pitt’s drinking, an insider told Rob Shuter’s Naughty But Nice Substack that Cooper is “worried” about his friend.

“There is no judgment — only concern,” the source explained. “Bradley knows how quickly drinking can become complicated, and he wants Brad to be honest with himself.”

They added, “Bradley knows how difficult sobriety is, and he knows this isn’t black and white.” Pitt shouldn’t expect a “lecture” from Cooper, and he will “be there” if “Brad needs him again.”

Still, it’s hard to forget why Pitt chose to stop drinking in the first place. It came after an alleged domestic violence incident on a private plane with Angelina Jolie and their six children, Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, Knox, 18, and Vivienne, 18. Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, and four out of his six children have legally dropped his last name.

Pitt has a lot at stake coming on the heels of his F1 success; he’s currently promoting Heart of the Beast, which will be released in September, and The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a standalone sequel to 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Aside from his Hollywood acclaim, it’s hard to ignore the personal headlines, and his admission of drinking only fuels that narrative.

And it was a little over a year ago that Pitt admitted his drinking was a problem on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.

“I was pretty much on my knees, and I was really open,” Pitt recalled in June 2025. “I was trying anything, anything anyone threw at me. It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f—k up in some areas. And it just meant a lot to me. Everyone was so open.”

Somewhere between June 2025 and now, Pitt changed his position on sobriety.