Bradley Cooper has revealed he attended his daughter’s graduation dressed as Leonard Bernstein while filming his new movie, Maestro.
The actor and director, 48, recently spoke about his forthcoming Netflix film, which centres on the relationship between American composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre. Speaking to Deadline, Cooper explained that he had scheduled shooting to be near his six-year-old daughter’s graduation.
“But we were still shooting. So, I attended her graduation in full make-up as Lenny,” the Silver Linings Playbook star said. “So much so that some of the mothers must have thought: ‘Who is that guy?’ Seriously. I was Lenny. Full Lenny. It was crazy.”
Cooper shares daughter Lea De Seine with model and ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk. The former couple, who split in 2019 after four years together, continue to co-parent their daughter while living in New York City.
The A Star is Born director initially sparked controversy for wearing a prosthetic nose to portray the West Side Story composer in the biopic, which will be available to stream on Netflix on 20 December. In an interview with CBS Mornings on 21 November, Cooper clarified that he “just didn’t look right” without the prosthetic nose.
“I thought: ‘Maybe we don’t need to do it,’” he said. “But it’s all about balance, and, you know, my lips are nothing like Lenny’s, and my chin. And so we had that, and it just didn’t look right [without the prosthetic].”
Bradley Cooper in ‘Maestro’— (Netflix)
Despite the backlash, Bernstein’s children defended Cooper’s decision, stating that he had “included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father”.
“It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use make-up to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well,” they wrote in a joint statement.
As for his co-parenting relationship with Shayk, the supermodel recently shared that the pair always put their daughter first - even with their busy schedules. “We both take Lea everywhere with us. She’s super easy,” she told Elle in an interview published on 8 November. The Russian-born model admitted that she and Cooper, who grew up outside of Philadelphia, both come from “normal backgrounds” far different from Lea’s childhood in New York City.
However, Shayk revealed that neither of them have hired a nanny for their daughter, so as to give her as regular an upbringing as possible. “Looking at my daughter now, she’s growing up in a completely different environment,” Shayk said. “She lives in the West Village. She went to all these countries in two months. But we want her to know the value of stuff. We want to show our daughter: ‘You have to work hard to get something.’”
Even when Cooper is away shooting a film, Shayk admitted that they “always find a way” to make their co-parenting schedule work for both of them. “He’s the best father Lea and I could dream of. It always works, but it always works because we make it work,” she said.
These days, The Hangover star has been romantically linked to model Gigi Hadid since October. The rumoured couple were first seen having dinner together in New York City, before they were later spotted taking a stroll together in Manhattan.
