Bradley Cooper knows that there’s no chance in hell that he could win an Oscar for Maestro, but I’ve enjoyed watching his attempts to campaign like he has a real shot. This man has been doing the most, from making sure everyone knows he’s dating Gigi Hadid to crying with Leonard Bernstein’s family in an interview to doing an Armchair Expert interview. Bradley and Dax Shepard have known each other for years and they talked a lot about fatherhood on the podcast. Bradley got “real” about the fact that he didn’t really feel connected to his daughter Lea when she was a baby. Some highlights:
He wasn’t sure if he loved Lea when she was a baby: “The first eight months — I don’t even know if I really love the kid. 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?”
Later, he realized that he did love his daughter: Cooper went on to explain that he underwent a realisation a few months into her life, recalling that “all of a sudden, it’s like no question”.
Now fatherhood is his reason to live: “I’m not sure I’d be alive if I wasn’t a dad. I don’t know. 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.”
Whether Lea will end up with a man like him: “I think about that a lot, in terms of how does my relationship with my daughter impact her growth and the journey that she’s going to be on? And specifically romantically in life, wherever intimacy finds her. I’ve clocked that she’s going to be 7 in March. You know my relationship with my dad, [I didn’t ] spend a lot of time with him. I think I’ve already logged more hours with my daughter than I did with my dad his entire life. So that alone is bonkers.”
[From People & The Independent]
There are a lot of people criticizing Bradley for talking about not feeling connected to his child, but isn’t that a somewhat common experience for first-time parents? Granted, usually it doesn’t take eight months to feel the connection, but the disconnected feeling is pretty common. Besides, there are always photos of Bradley out with Lea in New York – he absolutely adores his daughter, he’s a hands-on father and you can tell that they’re very connected now.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
Bradley Cooper and daughter Lea De Seine run errands. Featuring: Bradley Cooper and daughter Lea De Seine Where: New York, New York, United States When: 31 Oct 2023 Credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages 
Los Angeles special screening of Netflix’s ‘Maestro’ at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Featuring: Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper, Bradley Cooper Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 12 Dec 2023 Credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images 
Los Angeles special screening of Netflix’s ‘Maestro’ at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Featuring: Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper, Bradley Cooper Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 12 Dec 2023 Credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images
Los Angeles special screening of ‘Maestro’ Featuring: Bradley Cooper, Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 12 Dec 2023 Credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY** 
Celebrities arrive at the 35th Annual Producers Guild Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, California Featuring: Bradley Cooper Where: Hollywood, California, United States When: 25 Feb 2024 Credit: Jeffrey Mayer/Media Punch/INSTARimagesncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcW1pboN6e8GrmJ2kla6spLvOqZyrl5Sesa%2FAvp6tnqaPoLuww76inZiglZS%2Fpq3LpbCYpJ%2BrsqWrx6KqmJyRqrSpwMSrlrCglaOstLTEmK6aq4%2BWrKOtwbJm