Brad Pitt breaks silence on divorce with Angelina Jolie after a bitter 8-year legal battle

Brad Pitt has spoken out for the first time since finalizing his divorce from Angelina Jolie. The former couple reached a settlement in December 2024 after an 8-year-long bitter legal battle. Jolie had initially filed to dissolve their marriage in September 2016.

Pitt spoke to GQ recently about his upcoming movie F1 and dismissed questions regarding whether he felt ‘relief’ after he and Jolie reached a settlement.

“No, I don’t think it was that major of a thing," Pitt said. "Just something coming to fruition. Legally.”

Jolie and Pitt’s tumultuous divorce

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt days after a private plane flight on which she claimed Pitt was drunk and abusive to her and their six children. He was not charged by authorities after investigations at the time and Jolie declined to press charges.

Jolie and Pitt, since then, have been embroiled in a bitter custody battle and over ownership of their French vineyard, which had served as their wedding venue.

The actors, who share six children — Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, Knox, 16, and Vivienne, also 16 — began dating in the mid-2000s and married in 2014.

A representative for Pitt declined to confirm or comment on the divorce settlement in December.

However, a source close to Pitt told PEOPLE in March that the actor was "happy that the divorce is behind him" and that he and girlfriend Ines de Ramon, whom he has been dating since 2022, are "in a great place."

It is also being reported that the Pitt has popped the question to Ines already but the couple are keeping the engagement under wraps at the moment.

Meanwhile, Jolie’s lawyers stated at the time of the divorce settlement that the actress "has focused on finding peace and healing for their family" in the years since their high-profile divorce battle began. "This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago," Simon said in that statement. "Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over."

‘Personal life always in news’

While speaking to GQ, Pitt did mention that his personal life “is always in the news."

"It’s been in the news for 30 years, bro. Or some version of my personal life, let’s put it that way," he told GQ. When the outlet asked Pitt whether he viewed making F1 as "a refuge from all the attention" he receives, the actor said, “Um, I don’t see it that way."

“It’s been an annoyance I’ve had to always deal with in different degrees, large and small, as I do the things I really want to do," he said of his celebrity status. "So, it’s always been this kind of nagging time suck or waste of time, if you let it be that, I don’t know. I don’t know. Mostly I feel pretty…. My life is fairly contained. It feels pretty warm and secure with my friends, with my loves, with my fam, with my knowledge of who I am, that, you know, it’s like this fly buzzing around a little bit.”

F1 releases in theaters June 27.