Highlights

• Being a celebrity parent can be difficult, but Bradley Cooper seems to have mastered privacy while maintaining his relationship with Lea.
• Cooper's daughter has profoundly impacted him, as he admits she made him feel connected and strive for a better relationship than he had with his father.
• Cooper's former partner, Irina Shayk, praises him as a hands-on parent who maintains a strict upbringing for Lea, focusing on manners and appreciation.

As virtually everyone already knows, even though being a parent can be the most rewarding thing in life, it can also be extremely challenging at times. Of course, in some ways being a celebrity parent makes things a lot easier since stars have the means to provide their kids with whatever they want. However, every parent has said or done something that they regret, and in those cases, they were lucky the world wasn’t paying attention. After all, celebrity parents are often judged for the choices they make.

Even though Bradley Cooper is a massive star, he has mostly pulled off something that a lot of celebrity parents are likely jealous of. After all, Cooper has mostly managed to keep his relationship with this daughter, Lea, out of the headlines. Fortunately for anyone who is curious about how Cooper conducts himself as a parent, it is possible to learn about the actor’s relationship with his daughter without invading his privacy.

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Updated April 2024:Bradley Cooper said that he did not know if he "would be alive" if it were not for his daughter, Lea, when appearing on the "Armchair Expert" in February 2024. When host, Dax Shepard asked Cooper to expand what he meant by this, Cooper could only say that he was "not sure" but that the impact that his daughter has had on him has been profound. So much so that while Cooper has admitted that while it took him eight months to really "feel connected" to Lea, he made a concerted effort to have a better relationship with her than Cooper's father did with him.

Bradley Cooper The Father

Bradley Cooper had daughter, Lea, with ex, Irina Shayk in 2017

After previously marrying and divorcing the actor Jennifer Esposito, Bradley Cooper would go on to be romantically linked to the Russian supermodel Irina Shayk. Together from 2015 until 2019, even though Cooper and Shayk weren’t able to stay together long-term, they still appear to have a positive relationship. That is a wonderful thing as Cooper and Shayk had a daughter named Lea in early 2017.

In the years since Bradley Cooper’s daughter was born, the popular actor has largely avoided talking about his personal life. However, during a 2018 NPR interview, Cooper talked about being a father. After joking about being “opened up to a world of children’s music”, Cooper addressed how being a dad has changed the way he looks at things.

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“So I guess having a child, and having a family of my own — which is a miracle and something I’ve always dreamt of — has opened me up even more, I guess, to the day, and to be present.” Of course, if you asked most active parents, they would admit that having a child makes you more vulnerable. That said, the important thing is how good you are as a parent.

How Fatherhood Changed Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper's view of the world completely changed after becoming a father

In 2019, Bradley Cooper again discussed being a father this time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Directly asked how being a dad has changed him, Cooper’s response was unsurprisingly wide-ranging.

“I think like [in] every way. I mean, it allowed me to embrace my childlike self without any sort of like, fear of judgment," Cooper explained. "Like, I could just play with toys all day long and not feel like- is this weird? Or watch cartoons endlessly and not think I'm wasting my life. I love cartoons."

After that interview, Cooper took part in The Ellen DeGeneres Show’s Burning Questions game. During that segment, Cooper was asked how he makes his daughter Lea laugh and Bradley responded that he would “dance goofily” which is easy to imagine.

What Irina Shayk Thinks Of Bradley Cooper's Fathering Skills

Irina Shayk has only praised Bradley Cooper's skills as a father

Unfortunately, it can be extremely difficult for people to gauge for themselves how successful they are as parents. After all, a lot of parents who care deeply about doing things right beat themselves up for any mistakes they feel like they make. For that reason, in a lot of cases, it is the people who are the closest to each parent that are in the best position to judge their performance.

Since Bradley Cooper became a dad, his ex-partner and the mother of his child, Irina Shayk, has been pretty open about his performance as a father. For example, in 2021, Shayk talked about Cooper’s relationship with their daughter during a HIGHStyle magazine interview.

"He's a full-on, hands-on dad — no nanny," Shayk said. "Lea went on holiday with him for almost two weeks [and] I didn't call them once."

Of course, most parents don’t get praise for parenting without a nanny since that isn’t a realistic option for them. However, it makes sense that Shayk would bring that up since most people know that a lot of stars seemingly let nannies do a lot of work raising their kids.

Later in the aforementioned interview, Irina Shayk described how she and Bradley Cooper have chosen to raise their daughter.

"Me and her father are very strict. When she finishes eating, she gets up from the table, takes her plate, says 'thank you.' Without 'please' or 'thank you' she's not getting anything," Shayk explained. "It's hard, because she has so many toys. I had one doll, and I still have this doll. Blonde, blue eyes, big Russian doll. My grandma used to make clothes for her. I always explain, 'Look, this is my doll. I had only one.' Or sometimes, 'You have this candy. I used to have candy only for Christmas.'"

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