How Brad Pitt fixed his image problem with one interview

Brad Pitt has chosen the pages (and website) of a glossy magazine to give his first interview since splitting from Angelina Jolie amid accusations he’d hit their teenage son. It was a calculated attempt to rehabilitate his image – and it seems to have worked.

It’s seven months since Brangelina broke apart against the backdrop of reports of a physical altercation between Brad and 15-year-old Maddox on a private plane.

Social workers and the FBI took no action against Pitt. There were also rumours of an affair with his co-star Marion Cotillard – which she denied.

But his reputation had been called into question and he has kept a low profile since.

So how does one of Hollywood’s biggest stars begin to fix his image and move on? The answer seems to be – by doing an eight-day photoshoot mucking about in America’s national parks and a long, confessional and philosophical interview with GQ Style.

As one of the most famous people on the planet, Pitt had to talk about his problems sooner or later, attempt to take control of the story and move on.

And he’s got a new film coming out – which gets several prominent mentions in the article. He needs to promote that by talking to the media, as he will need to do for future releases.

He can’t dodge the subject of his divorce and personal problems. But he can choose which outlet he uses to speak about them, and what they say.

In giving his first post-split interview to GQ Style, he’s chosen a publication that is glossy in both format and interview tone. GQ correspondent Michael Paterniti’s questioning was gently probing but sympathetic. He didn’t ask what went on in the plane.

The choice of GQ wasn’t likely to put too many rival media noses out of joint, and was guaranteed to be picked up by virtually every news outlet around the world.

And he will have had control over what went in the article, according to PR guru Mark Borkowski. “Total copy approval, total picture approval, total headline approval,” he says.

Pitt “looks good and has admitted he’s had a problem,” Borkowski says. “So it’s very transparent and very honest. To be as upfront and direct as he’s been, it is a remarkable moment in his career.”

The headlines from the interview have been, depending on which website or paper you read: Brad has had therapy to get through his divorce; he’s admitted drink problems; he listened to Frank Ocean to get over the split; and he wore the same $1,000 (£775) tank top as Harry Styles.

In the bits about his divorce, he is conciliatory and admits the chaos of the past half-year has been “self-inflicted”, but he’s putting “family first”.

He “refuses” to get into a vicious court battle with Angelina and says they’ve got to handle the situation with “great care and delicacy” for the children.

Verdict? He’s the honest and sensitive guy we always knew he was.

BBC