Hollywood star Brad Pitt has said he "hadn't cried in 20 years", before he started to get more emotional as he grew older.

The 55-year-old actor was joined by co-star Anthony Hopkins, whom he starred opposite in "Legends of the Fall" and "Meet Joe Black", for the wide-ranging chat for Interview magazine, reports aceshowbiz.com.

At one point, the pair touched upon how their emotional state has altered as they've aged, with Brad stating that he's "quite famously not a crier."

He said: "I hadn't cried in like, 20 years. Now, I find myself at this latter stage, much more moved. Moved by my kids, moved by my friends, moved by the news. Just moved."

Pitt also got candid about his battle with alcoholism, and how he has tried to see the struggle as simply a chapter in his life rather than something he's defined by.

"I'm realising, as a real act of forgiveness for myself for all the choices that I've made that I'm not proud of, that I value those missteps, because they led to some wisdom, which led to something else," he said.

"You can't have one without the other. I see it as something I'm just now getting my arms around at this time in my life. But I certainly don't feel like I can take credit for any of it."

Adding that it doesn't help that we're living at a time when people are "judgmental and quick to treat people as disposable. We've always placed great importance on the mistake. But the next move, what you do after the mistake, is what really defines a person. We're all going to make mistakes.

"But what is the next step? We don't, as a culture, seem to stick around to see what that person's next step is. And that's the part I find so much more invigorating and interesting."

"I'm human. We're human, we want purpose, we want meaning in our lives. But to attain that, the key is two things: staying creative and being with the people you love."