Bradley Cooper has shared a rare comment about raising his six-year-old daughter, Lea, who he shares with ex Irina Shayk.
In a preview of an upcoming episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, Cooper, 48, addressed how losing his father, Charles Cooper, who died in 2011, impacted his approach to parenting. After noting that he “wished” his father was “around” for longer, Cooper also said that he recognised how “lucky” he was to have him.
TV host Bear Grylls then acknowledged how difficult it is to lose a parent, with the actor going on to explain how his father was a “blessing” to him.
“He gave me a huge gift; he died in my arms. To see that kind of factual example of mortality,” Cooper said.
When Grylls asked if losing his father “changed how [he] looked at things,” Cooper said yes, before revealing how his father’s death impacted him in some of the “worst” ways.
“I definitely had a nihilistic attitude after, for a little bit,” the Silver Lining’s Playbook star said. “Just like, wow I’m gonna die.”
Cooper went on to note that he then had a change in perspective, explaining: “It was not great for a little bit until I realised I had to just embrace who I actually am and try to find peace with that. And then it sorta evened out.”
Grylls then asked the actor: “So how do you approach fatherhood now? You’ve had that whole journey with your dad and now you’re a dad.”
In response, The Hangover star noted that, as he continues to make mistakes, he hopes his daughter learns from them.
“I mean you learn from your predecessor’s mistakes and I’ll make tons that hopefully Lea will learn from and then being rigorous with myself to grow,” he said. “To help unburden her with any of my bulls***.”
While Cooper usually keeps his daughter out of the spotlight, he did open up about fatherhood in June 2022 during an episode of the SmartLess podcast. In the conversation, he spoke candidly about his cocaine addiction and recalled how he felt “so lost” during it. However, according to Cooper, becoming a parent is what ultimately encouraged him to focus on his recovery.
“Fatherhood is…everything changed,” he said. “Every single thing is absolutely shaded by, or brought into glorious colours, by the fact that I get to be a father to a wonderful human being.”
He added: “You have this wonderful thing or breakthrough with a script, or you have a wonderful moment on this set or in an editing room … you have like 40 of those moments every day with your kid, that are that level of joy. That’s not spinning it, that’s just the truth.”
During an interview with Elle in 2021, Shayk also opened up about raising her daughter with Cooper, with the model questioning the meaning of the term “co-parenting”.
“I never understood the term co-parenting,” she said. “When I’m with my daughter, I’m 100 per cent a mother, and when she’s with her dad, he’s 100 per cent her dad. Co-parenting is parenting.”
