The intimate confessions of Brad Pitt at Miraval

Paris-Marseille.

Then an hour and a half drive to reach Correns, in the Var.

Finally, we arrive at our destination: Miraval.

The meeting place provokes a certain exaltation.

Around the world, the name of this property in Provence is celebrated for its rosé wine, but even more so for its current owner, a Hollywood megastar.

It is with Brad Pitt

, at his home in Miraval, that we have an appointment today to spend a special day.

The conditions are unique, a thousand miles from the interviews usually timed in the air-conditioned suites of luxury hotels.

This doesn't happen so often anymore in the formatted society of the spectacle.

But to access the holy of holies, you have to pass a security barrier, present your passport, then sign a confidentiality agreement: no photo of the house should be taken.

Once these formalities are settled, we leave by car and cross a hilly landscape.

Miraval appears, an immense 17th century castle-bastide, which looks more like a small village, with its dovecote, its chapel, its outbuildings, its park, its lake... On the lawn, the sculptures - perhaps signed by Brad Pitt, a part-time sculptor – and children's football goals compete for space.

The place is spectacular,

An album of images jostles in our mind.

This is where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the world's most glamorous ex-couple, got married in 2014. They bought this estate for 35 million euros in 2011, after renting it for three years.

For years, Miraval was their sacred refuge, their extended family's vacation home, where their six children grew up.

It has also become their winery, launched in partnership with the Perrin family, illustrious winegrowers, pioneers in organic and biodynamic agriculture.

A very

association since their wine has been voted the best rosé in the world several times by

and exported everywhere.

But since their stormy divorce in 2016, after twelve years of living together, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have not stopped waging a cruel war for the custody of their minor children… and that of Miraval.

Last episode of the soap opera Brangelina?

Jolie would have sold her shares of the property (i.e. 50%) to the Stoli spirits production and distribution group, controlled by a Russian oligarch.

Brad Pitt opposes it.

Legal action.

Angelina Jolie has just replied with a complaint, where she again accuses the actor of violence against two of their children during the famous argument on their private jet in 2016 which blew up their marriage – at the time, an investigation by the Child Protective Services had cleared Brad Pitt.

The battle rages, damages each of the two camps.

What's at stake for Pitt?

Preserve (and keep) the integrity of the Miraval estate.

And in this eruptive context, our unprecedented invitation to this private property is not insignificant.

It probably carries this media message: beyond business, the actor wishes to recall that this place remains above all his family anchor.

But that day, the battle waged by the ex-spouses is the only subject formally prohibited.

In video, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: the judicial soap opera continues

Installed in an outbuilding on the heights of the estate, we are waiting for the star.

Finally, Brad Pitt appears, tanned, sunglasses on his nose, hair carelessly swept back with a wave of his hand.

He is dressed in a fine lilac linen suit over a sky blue T-shirt, sneakers on his feet.

With an unfailing phlegm, he smiles, amused by the effect he invariably produces.

American welcome: “Welcome to Miraval!

Thank you for making the trip so far, it's very cool of you, ”he says in the preamble in his deep voice, heard in more than a hundred films.

No one is fooled.

But the case remains smoothly conducted: difficult not to find

this icon of cool, at the same time accessible, affable, even a joker at times.

He therefore receives us at his home (almost) without a safety net, but under the discreet surveillance of a benevolent assembly.

Brad Pitt has just returned from the Venice Film Festival, where he presented

, of which he is the producer, before starting a promotional marathon for

, Damien Chazelle's film which will be released in January in France.

We feel him at home in the middle of his vines, far from any public frenzy.

“Total freedom,” he savors.

For a long time, his cinegenic beauty locked him in the box of the

super sexy.

Pitt, 58, did everything to make people forget his stereotyped physique, give substance to his filmography, like Robert Redford before him, an actor to whom he is the natural heir.

To thwart the clichés, the child from Missouri produced demanding films and settled in France, in the great American historical tradition of literary bohemianism established by Hemingway and other cultivated aesthetes, attached to a European fantasy.

Their ideal?

A certain art of living.

That day, Brad Pitt also presents the cosmetics brand he is launching, called Le Domaine.

An evocative name that underlies “terroir” and “tradition”.

"To understand the philosophy of this project, I wanted you to discover Miraval for yourselves, this place that is so special to me," he explains.

It is a place dedicated to nature and creativity, facial treatments are part of this story.

Feel free to take a tour of the property later in the day…” By his side, the entire Perrin family is present, partners in friendship and in business.

Years ago, these winegrowers began to study the properties of grapes with the support of two top scientists, Professor Pierre-Louis Teissedre (wine and health specialist) and Professor Nicolas Lévy (geneticist) .

And,

very quickly, they shared with Brad Pitt their research.

“Circularity is the founding principle of our Le Domaine brand,” he continues.

To make wine, you have to cultivate the land, then harvest the grapes, extract the juice and discard the skins and seeds.

But this waste has proven benefits, particularly with regard to skin aging.

So instead of wasting this wealth, the idea is to turn it into healthy products.

In nature, nothing is lost, we must preserve this natural cycle, it is an essential value in my eyes.

But this waste has proven benefits, particularly with regard to skin aging.

So instead of wasting this wealth, the idea is to turn it into healthy products.

In nature, nothing is lost, we must preserve this natural cycle, it is an essential value in my eyes.

But this waste has proven benefits, particularly with regard to skin aging.

So instead of wasting this wealth, the idea is to turn it into healthy products.

In nature, nothing is lost, we must preserve this natural cycle, it is an essential value in my eyes.

"In nature, nothing is lost, we must preserve this natural cycle, it is an essential value in my eyes"

brad pitt

Thus was born Le Domaine: a range of green skincare products (a minimum of 96% ingredients of natural origin), vegan and mixed, voluntarily limited in products (four), boosted by the innovative combination of two exclusive patented and scrupulously clinically tested, GSM10 and ProGR3, whose properties would slow down the signs of aging.

A great lover of design, Brad Pitt designed all the product packaging.

He thus joins a battalion of celebrities – including his ex-girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rihanna, Harry Styles… – already present in the very lucrative beauty market, skincare being the most buoyant sector of this industry, post -pandemic.

"I wouldn't have gotten involved in this project if I hadn't been convinced by the clinical trials and if I didn't

had not seen myself for a year the effects on my skin, assures Brad Pitt.

Brands have been sending me beauty products for decades, and frankly, I used them with no difference.

You know, getting old doesn't bother me.

I don't like the concept of anti-aging, it doesn't make sense, it's ridiculous.

Preventing this mad rush is a chimera.

On the other hand, the idea of ​​aging well, serenely, taking care of your skin, seems to me more interesting… and accessible.

It's a routine I've become familiar with in my work."

I don't like the concept of anti-aging, it doesn't make sense, it's ridiculous.

Preventing this mad rush is a chimera.

On the other hand, the idea of ​​aging well, serenely, taking care of your skin, seems to me more interesting… and accessible.

It's a routine I've become familiar with in my work."

I don't like the concept of anti-aging, it doesn't make sense, it's ridiculous.

Preventing this mad rush is a chimera.

On the other hand, the idea of ​​aging well, serenely, taking care of your skin, seems to me more interesting… and accessible.

It's a routine I've become familiar with in my work."

Men are more daring to show their share of vulnerability, confide, let their guard down and take care of themselves

brad pitt

When asked about his beauty routine, Pitt bursts out laughing: “It has to be as simple and as quick as possible.

Every morning, I wash my face in the shower, I apply my serum, then my moisturizer, and I put cream on again at night before going to bed.

In the past, I tried a thousand tips from friends who recommended lots of products to apply in different stages.

Each time, I followed the protocol for three days… before giving up.

It was too much work.

But I come a long way: I was a country lad for a long time for whom soap was the only ally of men!

Mindsets are changing.

This is also why I wanted a unisex cosmetics brand.

More generally, I am pleased that masculinity is changing so much these days.

Men are more daring to show their share of vulnerability, to confide, to let their guard down and to take care of themselves.

I think our girlfriends helped us to change…” His status as a sex symbol?

“I could give you this commonplace that beauty comes from within,

but when you live in the spotlight, you learn to distance yourself from the images and compliments others send back to you.

Otherwise, we lose ground.

I aim to be as honest and sincere as possible in my acting, and for that, I have to forget myself.

It's very healthy."

During lunch, Brad Pitt slips away to his house.

We find him an hour later, face to face, at home, or more exactly on one of the covered terraces of the castle.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?

he asks, admiring the panorama of the garden.

The place was already exceptional, but I got heavily involved in its renovation.

Shall I make you a coffee?

A fruit juice ?"

The conversation continues freely around a glass of water.

"I'm done with alcohol," he says.

The actor has regularly confided in his periods of depression, his excesses and his addictions, which would have cost him his marriage.

He came close to the precipice before effecting a form of redemption that began with a very American founding act: publicly acknowledging his mistakes.

For his children,

Brad Pitt undertook to go up the slope: long work of introspection, treatment with Alcoholics Anonymous, total sobriety.

He fights against his old demons.

For six years, this passionate winegrower has not touched a drop of alcohol.

Read alsoBrad Pitt: "In the mirror, I see someone who always makes mistakes"

Brad Pitt knows perfectly well where he comes from.

No royal path has been traced for this ex-kid of the fields, raised in Springfield, Missouri.

When he arrives in Hollywood with 300 dollars in his pocket to become an actor, the novice sees his dreams bump into harsh reality.

Nobody expects him.

At 23, he struggles, does odd jobs, scrapes by as best he can, shoots films and forgettable series, hangs on.

Until luck finally turns ("a coincidence of fate", according to him): his role as a cunning and sexy hitchhiker in

allows him to emerge from anonymity.

The rest, we know it: the rise, the devouring celebrity and a slew of cult films which draw an impeccable filmography, between blockbusters and auteur films:

,

, the

saga ,

and

for which he won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe.

In a cinema industry in crisis, the actor appears in the very short list of stars capable of filling rooms: his

, a success of the summer, exceeded one million spectators in France.

“I remain a lover of cinema on the big screen, it provokes sensations and emotions so much more amplified than those that can be felt in front of a small screen at home.

But I am aware that everything can stop tomorrow.

Is he talking about cinema or his career?

He smiles.

Divorce like maturity must have changed him.

"I'm starting the home stretch, the final season," he told an American newspaper.

Is it for this reason that this "perfectionist", as described by Quentin Tarantino, continues to expand his field of action?

Production, architecture, design, sculpture, fashion – he has just created a brand of cashmere –, beauty, viticulture… His agility seems limitless.

He knew how to reinvent himself.

“As you age, you can sometimes wonder how to keep a purpose, how to maintain a goal in your life, give it meaning.

These questions overwhelm me sometimes.

What motivates me?

Creativity in all its forms, whether by telling stories as an actor or producer (

by Barry Jenkins,

by Ava DuVernay, or even

of James Gray) or by developing other artistic and collaborative projects.

The name of his production company, Plan B Entertainment, sums it all up: the desire to consider a different approach.

“I consider myself a craftsman, I like doing, manufacturing, being in contact with things and people, revealing new talents.

The human and creative adventure fascinates me.

Projects give me vital momentum.

I am lucky to be friends with the architect Frank Gehry, tireless visionary who continues to create, at 93 years old, surrounded by his family and friends.

He inspires me daily.

Commitment is essential.”

This philosophy of life translates concretely at Miraval.

“The first idea was to find a house in France to spend time there and instill in my children more European values.

If I speak a little French, they have no problem with the language, and that's a good reason for us to come back… We all fell in love with the place.

This area has a special aura.

I have been coming here very regularly for fourteen years, I stay there for a month and a half when I want to recharge my batteries.

Many friends stay here to find inspiration and work.

I see Miraval as a land of welcome open to a whole community of artists, whether they are painters, chefs, screenwriters, musicians…”

I stay there for a month and a half when I want to recharge my batteries.

Many friends stay here to find inspiration and work.

I see Miraval as a land of welcome open to a whole community of artists, whether they are painters, chefs, screenwriters, musicians…”

I stay there for a month and a half when I want to recharge my batteries.

Many friends stay here to find inspiration and work.

I see Miraval as a land of welcome open to a whole community of artists, whether they are painters, chefs, screenwriters, musicians…”

“I consider myself a craftsman, I like doing, manufacturing, being in contact with things and people, revealing new talents.

The human and creative adventure fascinates me »

brad pitt

Brad Pitt also invites us to discover, in preview, a hidden treasure: the mythical Miraval studios, which he completely renovated and reopened in the dovecote located 100 meters away.

Founded in 1977 by Jacques Loussier, this state-of-the-art recording studio has long been a reference, hosting the sessions of the greatest.

This is where Pink Floyd recorded

, where Telephone, The Cure, AC/DC, Sting and Indochine produced some of their albums.

Since then, the studio has been abandoned.

With French producer Damien Quintard, a young prodigy who has already won the Emmy Awards, Brad Pitt has decided to give him a second life.

He redesigned the places,

de Kubrick –, opening onto a 320 square meter recording room with unique acoustics, with a bird's eye view of a century-old olive tree.

“Creating a lambda studio didn't interest me, there are studios all over the world.

The originality of the place, in addition to the high-performance infrastructure offered there, is based on the overall experience that Miraval can offer.

To register here is to live on this estate, to be immersed in this fantastic nature.

The singer Sade has just inaugurated it.

We will welcome large groups, but also support young unknown artists.

I would like everyone to see this place as a sanctuary to create and work.

That's what he represents to me.

Miraval is my sanctuary.”

Does Brad Pitt ever consider recording an album himself,

him that we saw in Venice with a guitar in his hand?

"Not at all !

I'm a vague Sunday guitarist… I started playing during the Covid, it became a habit, every morning, like a kind of meditation.

I can not do without it.

But frankly, it would be a miracle if I ever managed to finish a song.

On this sunny afternoon, the estate is (almost) ours, freedom to walk through the vineyards, olive groves and holm oak forests.

A landscape both wild and tamed.

“This place gives me a return to my roots.

I had a Huckleberry Finn childhood, Mark Twain's hero, spending a lot of time in the woods and by the lake of the Ozarks.

My commitment to ecology comes from there.

Nature is my first teacher and my first guide.

Very early on, I measured the strength, but also the fragility of this environment in the face of man.

We must preserve our planet and its resources.

I am not an example of ecological perfection, but I strive to do my best.

I avoid waste at all costs, I recycle as much as possible, at Miraval as in Los Angeles.

The transmission of these values ​​to my children has been important to me since they were young.

What impresses me is that they carry the environmental fight with even more force.

This young generation acts, gets involved, transforms the world.”

It's 5 p.m.

Before leaving our host, one last question.

How does he view himself?

“I try not to look at myself at all, but I don't hate the mirror.

We always look a little defeated in the morning, in a bad state, and I like that!

On my face, I see the passage of time, of course, but I have the feeling, paradoxically, of having remained the same.

Above all, I see someone who tries to do his best, who laughs at his nonsense – I hope –, who is attentive to others, sincere, loving.

Someone who makes mistakes, tries not to be too hard on themselves and gets back on track by creating.

A man who tries.

Yes, that's the one I hope to see.

»