Brad Pitt has revealed that he "smoked way too much dope" in the late 90s.

The 48-year-old opened up to the Hollywood Reporter about his drug use and admitted that marijuana had a negative impact on his life.

The actor has just been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his role in Moneyball but admits that he went through a dark period as he became famous 20 years ago.

"I was hiding out from the celebrity thing," he recalled. "I was smoking way too much dope."

"I was sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnut and I really got irritated with myself."

Brad said he finally pulled himself together because he knew "better than this" but also revealed that he had his fair share of dark moments.

"I used to deal with depression, but I don't know, not this decade maybe last decade," he said candidly.

"But that's also figuring out who you are. I see it as a great education, as one of the season or a semester.

"This semester I was majoring in depression. I was doing the same thing every night and numbing myself to sleep the same routine. Couldn't wait to get home and hide out. But that feeling of unease was growing and one night I just said, This is a waste.'"

The father-of-six who is in a relationship with Angelina Jolie, said he finally got his wakeup call during trips to Yugoslavia and Morocco where he saw "poverty to an extreme I had never witnessed before."

"I just quit. I stopped grass then I mean, pretty much and decided to get off the couch," he proclaimed.