Although Bradley Cooper seems like a bloke with a lot of love to give, he began to question whether that was the case after the birth of his daughter.
The Hangover star, 49, made an honest admission about how he struggled to form a bond with his now-seven-year-old in the early stages of her life.
He shares his only child, Lea, with his former partner and Russian model, Irina Shayk, 38.
The pair welcomed their daughter into the world in March 2017, before they later called time on their four-year relationship in June 2019.
Shayk has previously described the actor as the ‘best father Lea and I could dream of’ – but according to Cooper, his parental instincts took a while to kick in at first.
The Hollywood heavyweight sat down to discuss his journey into fatherhood with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast last year, and he didn’t shy away from difficult subjects.
Cooper told the comedian that he often found himself confused when parents would say they were willing to ‘die in a second for their children’.
Most people would jump in front of a bullet for their kids, no questions asked – but the A Star Is Born actor didn’t have the same feelings towards Lea initially.
“The first eight months – I don’t even know if I really love the kid,” Cooper said. “It’s dope. It’s cool. I’m watching this thing morph. That’s my experience. Fascinated by it. Loved taking care of it. But would I die if someone came in with a gun?”
“It’s only been a few months! She could be an asshole,” he joked.
Cooper then explained that ‘all of a sudden’ his feelings towards little Lea changed completely – and he realised he would do anything to protect her with ‘no question’.
The American Sniper star then opened up about the extraordinary impact his daughter has had on his life.
“I’m not sure I’d be alive if I wasn’t a dad,” he continued. “I just needed someone to say, like, ‘We’re gonna drop this massive anchor. I’m like, ‘Why? We’re speeding! I just got an upgrade on the boat, and I know where the wind’s coming in’.
“They’re like, ‘No, no, no, there’s a tsunami coming in, and you need an anchor and we’re gonna drop it’.
Because this is gonna dictate everything you do from now on. Your DNA is going to tell you that there’s something more important than you.”
But despite it taking a while for him to adjust to his feelings about being a father, Cooper couldn’t contain his emotions when it came to his role in Maestro.
The actor starred as American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in the 2023 biopic and became visibly upset when discussing his death in an interview in February 2024.
When asked if he ‘missed’ Bernstein – who died in 1990 – despite never meeting him, the actor responded: “Oh yeah, man. It’s hard to talk about.
“He was with me, certainly, throughout the entire time. His energy has somehow found its way to me, and I really do feel like I know him.”
