Brad Pitt on His Solitary Past

Peggy Sirota/ Parade Magazine

Brad Pitt on His Solitary Past

By RAPHAEL CHESTANG

September 15, 2011

The cliched image of a celebrity's life is full of wild parties, decadent vacations and bustling red carpets, but Brad Pitt described his early years of stardom as almost monastic.

In an interview with Parade magazine, in newspapers this Sunday, Brad explained that he started out making a conscious effort to avoid the traditional Hollywood lifestyle.

"I spent the '90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony," said Brad. "I started to get sick of myself sitting on a couch, holding a joint, hiding out. It started feeling pathetic. It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn't living an interesting life myself. I think that my marriage (to Jennifer Aniston) had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn't."

Brad and Jennifer split in 2005 after five years of marriage. On his current girlfriend, Angelina Jolie, Brad said, "One of the greatest, smartest things I ever did was give my kids Angie as their mom. She is such a great mom. Oh, man, I'm so happy to have her."

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In the years following 2005's Hurricane Katrina, Brad has made a name for himself as a humanitarian with his Make It Right foundation that is helping rebuild New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward.

The actor explained his eagerness to give back, saying, "I hit the lottery-the whole cliche of moving to Hollywood and getting paid silly amounts of money. ... I feel like I have to share whatever I can."

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You can read Brad's entire interview in Parade magazine on September 18.