Bradley Cooper talks about his drug addiction. (Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)
Bradley Cooper revealed a particularly important conversation he had years ago with his actor friend Will Arnett when he appeared on Monday’s episode of Wondery’s SmartLess podcast, presented by Arnett and two of his friends and fellow actors, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes.
Cooper explained that it took place in 2004, when he lived next to the former Arrested Development star, whose sense of sarcastic humor he always tried to emulate. The two had gone out to dinner with another friend the night before, and Arnett asked Cooper how he thought the night had gone. Cooper remembers feeling great about it, especially because it had been so much fun during it, at least in his own thinking, but Arnett’s opinion was very different. He told Cooper, “You’re a real ******,” and warned him not to take his dogs for a walk. At that time, it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and the dogs were at the door.
“And that was, like, the first time I realized I had a problem with drugs and alcohol,” Cooper said. “And it was Will telling me that, and I’ll never forget it.”
In addition to realizing his addictions, Cooper said he was forced to see that this fake, distant person he was trying to put down was not working. He realized that really, all he had been was his lack of self-esteem and trying to fit in.
“I was so lost,” he said. “I was so lost and addicted to cocaine, that was the other thing.”
To make matters worse, the Achilles tendon had been cut after, in his words, “Alias was fired-slash-abandoned” in 2003.
Cooper had moved to Los Angeles for his role in the Jennifer Garner drama on ABC, and he felt like he was “back in high school. He couldn’t go to any club, no girl wanted to watch.” I’m really depressed. “
So yeah, I was struggling. The advantage is that when he starred in the hit 2009 The Hangover (he was 36 at the time), he had already gone through the clichéd experiences of people who are finally successful in the entertainment industry.
The story goes on
“But Will is right,” Cooper said.
Bateman asked how Cooper’s fatherhood, which shares Lea’s 5-year-old daughter with his ex-partner, model Irina Shayk, has changed.
“Everything is absolutely shaded or painted in glorious colors because I become the father of a wonderful human being,” said Cooper, whose latest project is to direct and star in Maestro, in which he plays the late composer. Leonard Bernstein. “You have something wonderful or a breakthrough with a script, or you have a wonderful time on this set or in an editing room … you have like 40 of those moments every day with your child, which are that level of joy. This is not a turn. this, this is just the truth. “