Brad Pitt spotted in famed Carmel bar amid family challenges

Brad Pitt has a big fall coming with the release of two new films, including “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” but he’s also had a tumultuous summer, with news that three of his children with ex-wife Angelina Jolie have recently taken legal steps to drop his “Pitt” surname from their own names.

So, it’s perhaps no surprise that the busy movie star, who has reportedly become estranged from all six of his young adult children, would want to unwind at Bud’s, the famous bar and restaurant in the La Playa Hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

A devotee of Deux Moi, the crowd-sourced celebrity-gossip Instagram account, reported Monday that they had recently seen Pitt at Bud’s. No further details were offered, such as the time or day of the sighting or whether Pitt was with anyone, such as his girlfriend, Ines de Ramon. The witness also didn’t report seeing what Pitt was eating or drinking, or what mood he appeared to be in.

Of course, Pitt wouldn’t be in Carmel as a tourist. The “F1” actor is known to own a home in Carmel Highlands. In 2022, he paid $40 million to purchase the “architecturally significant,” Tuscan castle-style D.L. James House, which sits on a rocky bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Last summer, the Daily Mail reported Pitt and de Ramon like to spend as much time as possible in Monterey County and in the spectacular-looking home, which also is said to resemble a small medieval castle. The house also is known as “Seaward” and was built with locally sourced sandstone and granite in 1918 for local writer and businessman D.L. James. The architect was Carmel-based Charles Sumner Greene, who was known for being a specialist in the Arts and Crafts style.

“Brad and Ines sightings in Carmel are regular,” one local resident told the Daily Mail in June 2025. “They hit the fancy restaurants and shop at boutiques like Tancredi & Morgen just like all the locals. Brad has been seen with a hat and sunglasses on at Nielsen Brothers Market.”

“No one hassles celebrities here because the locals don’t like to make a fuss,” the resident also said. “They think approaching a celebrity is classless. So Brad and Ines get their space.”

The 62-year-old actor probably would appreciate getting some “space” right now. Yes, he can look forward to promoting “Heart of the Beast,” a survival thriller film due to be released Sept. 25, for which he is the star and producer. Then, on Nov. 25, comes David Fincher’s highly anticipated follow-up to Quentin Tarantino’s hit 2019 film, “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” for which Pitt won his best supporting actor Oscar. Pitt returns to play cool, resourceful stuntman Cliff Booth.

But Pitt’s personal issues with his children are not likely to go away. Last week, news came that his youngest daughter, 18-year-old Vivienne, had filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court, requesting that her legal name be changed from Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Marcheline Jolie. Vivienne filed her petition shortly after she turned 18, and she is the latest of Pitt’s six children to separate herself from the Academy Award winner in such a public, legal way.

Pitt’s problems with his children, ages 18 to 24, go back at least to September 2016 when Jolie abruptly filed for divorce, alleging that Pitt drank too much and became violent with her and several of their children during a private plane ride back to the United States from the couple’s Chateau Miraval winery and estate in France. A number of reports said that their oldest child, Maddox, then 15, was the main focus of Pitt’s aggression on the flight.

Child welfare officials investigated the incident and cleared Pitt of any wrongdoing. The “Fight Club” star also denied ever being abusive, though he gave multiple interviews in subsequent years, acknowledging that he had to overcome problems with alcohol and learn to better control his anger.

It’s been reported that Maddox, now 24, immediately distanced himself from his father after that infamous plane flight. The focus on Pitt’s problems with his children ramped up in 2023 when it became known that his second son Pax, 22, allegedly called him a “world-class (expletive)” and an “awful human being” in a resurfaced 2020 social media post. In that post, Pax also accused his father of making his younger siblings “tremble in fear.”

The following year, Shiloh, 20, became the first of Pitt’s children to legally drop his surname. A few months later, a source told People that Pitt “has virtually no contact with the adult kids.”

At this time, an insider also told People that Pitt had limited contact with twins Vivienne and Knox, while Vivienne didn’t use the “Pitt” surname in her 2024 Playbill credit for the Broadway musical “The Outsiders,” which her mother produced.

Pitt and Jolie’s oldest daughter, Zahara, recently went to court to legally change her name to Zahara Marley Jolie, while Maddox similarly filed paperwork to become Maddox Chivan Jolie.

Sources close to Pitt have repeatedly said that his reported estrangement from his children is the result of Jolie’s efforts to “alienate” them from him. A Pitt source told the Daily Mail: “There has been a campaign of alienation (by Jolie) which has been successful. The antagonism is huge. He has been alienated from the kids completely. It is devastating to him.”