Brad Pitt has lots to say about toxic masculinity, accountability amidst abuse allegations - The A.V. Club

Brad Pitt is astatine a important juncture successful his career. Following his divorcement from Angelina Jolie and vague reports of an incidental connected the family’s backstage level successful 2016, Hollywood was much than blessed to support him successful the fold; helium won his archetypal acting Oscar successful 2020 and has experienced continued occurrence successful beforehand of and down the camera.

But arsenic much troubling details look astir the altercation with Jolie—most recently, accusations that helium physically and verbally assaulted not lone his wife, but immoderate of their children—he is present forced to beryllium much proactive successful laundering his reputation. This seems to see a batch of “sources close to Pitt” discrediting Jolie, but determination are besides front-facing actions to show his progressive views, similar producing female-centric stories of rape and maltreatment She Said and Women Talking, launching a genderless skincare line, wearing a skirt to the Bullet Train premiere, and now, launching a corporate creation accumulation with Nick Cave and Thomas Houseago.

Pitt’s art, helium tells the Financial Times, is profoundly personal. “It’s each astir self-reflection. I was looking astatine my ain beingness and truly concentrating connected owning my ain shit: wherever was I complicit successful failures successful my relationships, wherever person I mis-stepped,” helium shares, alluding to his divorcement difficulties. “For me, it was calved retired of ownership of what I telephone a extremist inventory of self, getting truly brutally honorable with me, and taking relationship of those I whitethorn person hurt.”

Pitt is hardly the archetypal accused abuser to profess enlightenment and accountability successful these kinds of terms. It’s hard to justice from the extracurricular whether those presumption are genuine oregon simply a mode to prevention look publicly. For the Financial Times, helium decries toxic masculinity: “It’s conscionable exhausting to beryllium thing but who you are. You person to understand, astatine slightest wherever I grew up, we’re much the Clint Eastwood character; you clasp everything within, you’re capable, you tin woody with anything, you don’t amusement weakness. I spot that successful my dada and the older generations of actors, and, man, it’s exhausting,” helium says.

“As I get older, I find specified a comfortableness successful friendships wherever you tin beryllium [completely yourself], and I privation that to widen successful the outer world. What radical marque of it: I’m fine. I consciousness harmless present due to the fact that there’s a absorption connected our struggles arsenic quality beings, due to the fact that it’s fraught with peril. And joyousness arsenic well,” the Blonde shaper continues. “I find I person to locomotion with the symptom I experience, and I person to locomotion with the joy, the beauty.” The tribunal of nationalist sentiment volition person to determine whether it’s buying what Pitt is selling here.