Television July 10, 2023
Bradley Cooper Says He Hopes Daughter, Lea, Will Learn from His Mistakes
NATGEO
Bradley the brave.
The actor had quite an adventure on Sunday's episode of “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge.” He ate an animal tongue scavenged from a carcass, learned how to use a grappling hook gun to cross between mountains, and faced the challenges of finding the extraction point during a blistering winter snowstorm.
However, perhaps the biggest moments came from Bradley’s revelations on fatherhood and sobriety.
Discussing how his dead’s death’s impacted hm, Bradley said “He gave me a huge gift, he died in my arms.” The “Hangover” star went on to say how seeing “that kind of factual example of mortality” changed how he looked at things.
“In some ways for the worse, I definitely had a nihilistic attitude after for a little bit. Just like, ‘Well, I'm gonna die I don't know it if it's not great for a little bit.’ Until I realized I had to just embrace who I actually am yeah and try to find a peace with that and then it sort of evened out.”
Bradley revealed how the journey with his dad influenced how he approached fatherhood.
“You learn from your predecessor’s mistakes,” said Cooper, who is a father to five-year-old Lea. “I’ll make tons that hopefully Lea will learn from. And then making it and being rigorous with myself to grow and to help unburden her with any of my s%$!”
When Grylls tells the actor that evolving from his mistakes one of the best things he can do for his child, Bradley agrees and says it’s also “one of the best things” for himself. “It just makes life much better.”
Discussing his sobriety, Bradley shared how it helped him with his role in “A Star Is Born,” where he played a serious addict.
I was lucky — I got sober at 29 years old. And I've been sober for 19 years. It made it easier to be able to really enter in there,” said Bradley on playing his character in “A Star Is Born” that earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
“And thank goodness I was at a place in my life where I was at ease with all of that so I could really let myself go there. I've been very lucky bear with the roles I've had to play. I mean, I really have I look back it's been a real blessing I hope I get to keep doing it.”
