Bradley Cooper recently opened up about his relationship with his daughter, Lea, while appearing on the "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard" podcast. The actor explained that before he and ex Irina Shayk welcomed their daughter in 2017, he had a difficult time understanding why parents would say,  "I would die in a second for my kid," adding, "If I'm being honest, the first eight months I don’t even know if I really love the kid." He continued,  "It’s dope. It’s cool. I’m watching this thing morph. Fascinated by it. Love taking care of it. Would I die if someone came in with a gun?" Cooper said it was "all of a sudden" that his feelings and perspective on fatherhood shifted, and then it was "like, no question."

"I’m not sure I’d be alive if I wasn’t a dad," Cooper, who has previously been open about his battle with addiction, said. "I just needed someone to say, ‘We're gonna drop this massive anchor,' and I'm like, ‘Why? We're speeding. We just got an upgrade on the boat and I know where the wind is coming in.' And they're like, ‘No, there's a tsunami coming and you need an anchor and we're gonna drop it.' This is going to dictate everything you do from now on." He added, "Your DNA is going to tell you that there’s something more important than you." As of right now, Cooper is focusing on providing the best life and foundation he can for his daughter. "I want her to have as much foundation as she can," the "Hangover" star said. "I think about how my relationship with my daughter impacts her growth and the journey she's gonna be on."