I will always sort of believe that it took so long for Leonardo DiCaprio to win an Oscar because the stuffy Academy voters didn’t like the vibe from his personal life. Leo never pretended to be a family man, nor did he pretend to be interested in women his age. He was out there with the posse/wolfpack, selecting Victoria’s Secret models to date and dumping them before their 25th birthday. That didn’t “sell well” as an Oscar campaign. Part of me likes the fact that Oscar-nominated men are treated the same as women – it’s seen as a big plus when they have a loving spouse and photogenic kids. So that’s what Bradley Cooper is leaning into – he’s not a Leo D type, Academy voters. He’s a family man with a photogenic partner and an adorable blonde daughter. OSCAR, PLZ.
Although Bradley Cooper is riding a professional high — his directorial debut, A Star is Born, has earned eight Oscar nominations and more than $400 million at the worldwide box office — the 44-year-old actor’s home life is where his heart is, ever since his daughter Lea, 22 months, was born.
“Bradley is like a changed person,” a source tells PEOPLE in the new issue about how Cooper has embraced parenthood with girlfriend Irina Shayk, 33. “Becoming a dad seems to be such a positive experience for him.”
Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper was born on March 21, 2017 in Los Angeles. She is the first child for Cooper and the Russian supermodel, who have been dating since 2015. Although Cooper and Shayk are fiercely private, “they are very active with [Lea],” says the source. “They go for neighborhood walks, visit the farmer’s market, play on the beach, or take Lea to a toddler class.”
Despite the fact that Shayk has often worn a large emerald ring on that finger for more than two years, the source says that right now co-parenting is more important to the couple than getting married: “They’re focused on their daughter, and they seem happy together.”
An engagement would have done some good, but it’s too late for that now – it would be too obvious an Oscar campaign ploy. It would have been better to announce an engagement last fall. But this is fine too – Bradley’s obviously in a happy and stable relationship and there are photos of him with Lea and HE IS NOT LEO. ‘Nuff said. Well played, Bradley.
What an industry. Everything seems to be a from with no one ever really being real. That’s too bad. Irina is a beautiful woman and that baby is cute.
Weirdly I’m starting to respect Leo more for not bowing to the pressure to be in a conventional family… he “ate raw bear” or whatever, but he didn’t bring a baby into his Oscar campaign. Bradley’s campaign looks sooo false… having a conventional middle class hetero family should have no bearing in determining acting talent, and playing the game is starting to look a bit silly.
Well said, Esmerelda. I wonder if there are people in the industry looking at Bradley (and others) pulling stunts like this and talking about them behind their backs. I don’t know why that is never taken into consideration by celebrities and their publicists when it comes to staged photos, fake relationships, etc.
His daughter IS adorable bless her and in fairness he does seem devoted when he is photographed with her.
I don’t think anyone is implying he doesn’t love his daughter (and yes of course she’s cute); but remember this is the guy who sat for a profile with the NYTimes and then practically had an aneurysm when personal questions are asked. Personal questions…which are generally asked when you agree to sit for an NYTimes profile. Huh.
And now as the Oscar chances are in doubt we start to get the planted personal puff pieces. You can see why the timing makes this pretty funny?
So many actors desperately want Oscar and yet desperately don’t want to play the game. Maybe they should start giving some thought to whether Oscar is really needed at all. Maybe we all should.
NAIL ON THE HEAD @Mia4s
i remember reading that profile …like come on bruhhhhh you gotta coyly answer at least something.
Hahaha! Oh bless this story! After Rami “Ghosts kept me from knowing about child rapists, oh please I’m begging you for my trophy” Malek and Viggo “Green Book…’nuff said” Mortensen, THIS is the kind of blatant but innocent campaigning and shilling we can all enjoy! Hahaha!! Love it!….
…God I am praying Bale or Dafoe win.
Baby is adorable!
Unfortunately I can not un-see Barry Manilow when I look at him.
Yes, yes. His face looks odd to me. He used to be marginally good looking, now….blecch
I loved the edgy long hair, beard, overly tanned, deep voiced Bradley from a Star is Born. I’m not into the clean shaven, short hair non tanned version of Bradley. I thought he was better in A Star is Born than Lady Gaga but he has tougher competition than she does.
+1, he looked hot in A Star is Born, as opposed to the pics above. And he is actually a really good singer.
I believe he’s looking freaky from botox and filler. He looks so much better with his real face!
DiCaprio has a Paul Newman thing going on when he was young – incredibly handsome and talented in a way that you knew the Academy figured they had plenty of time to actually award him. BUT the part that people also forget was that DiCaprio had spectacularly bad luck. The years he lost he was up against huge, tour de force performances that ran the table.
Bradley Cooper on the other hand, always feels like it’s lucky that he was nominated. He’s never been someone that blows his competition out of the water. He strikes me as the kind of actor that would be more likely to win should he be nominated for a strong supporting performance, but will always be outclassed in Best actor.
Well, he’s not going to win Best Actor. The picture has fizzled at awards.
Right. They’re not a fake couple. The reason we never see them together is because they are “fiercely róbate.” Gotchya
There were rumors when she was with Christiano Ronaldo that she was a beard. Same murmurs when Cooper was with Renee Zellweger who seems to find herself in the beard role. I have never bought them as a couple. Don’t really know why. I don’t expect him to win. I’m guessing it’s going to Bale but hate for anyone to be recognized for Portraying the human form of Voldemort
To be fair, he DOES seem to really adore his daughter and love being a dad. I don’t think he’s putting any of that on, I’ve seen photos where they clearly didn’t know they were being taken and he looked just as doting as the ones where you can see them aware of the camera.
“Photos they didn’t know were being taken”
Hey, I’ve got this bridge I want to sell you…
Um, that’s a little rude. I was thinking of two different sets of pics when I said that, actually. One wasn’t even a paparazzi thing, someone had just taken pictures with their phone while they were out. The others, they were a while ago now, but from what I can recall, looked like they were taken from far away, and judging by leaves being visible, around a bush or something. I’m perfectly aware that in plenty of these photo ops BCoop, or whoever the subject is, is perfectly aware that they’re there- which I also made reference to above. Especially now, with the Oscars coming down the track. These photos just didn’t look like that to me (neither of them was even from recently.)
Is it so hard to believe he’s a halfway decent, loving dad? Because that’s all I mentioned seeing in the pictures. A guy that looked like he really loved his daughter. But sure, if you want to believe every pic ever taken of the guy is set up and staged and I’m an idiot to ever think sometimes he might just be out and about living his life, that’s ok I guess. Maybe so.
@Anom33
+1000
Everything about this couple is staged and contracted.
Wish he’d lean on out of the closet.
He for sure has lost his looks.
Yeah no, that is still too little too late. I honestly feel a little vindicated that the Industry seems to agree with me that he and Gaga messed up their awards campaign from the start.
It was try-hard, overwrought and yet smug and weirdly aloof at the same time? Remember him barely being able to give a crap during his interviews? When he even bothered to give any?
I don’t know why he couldn’t just put on his show pony pants and perform if he wanted the statue so bad. Remember how hard Ben Affleck and especially Jennifer hustled for Argo? That is the kind of effort he needed and he didn’t want to do it and this is the result. He’s going to get shut out of all the big awards and the movie will get best song and that’s it.
This is why people are so over ASIB & him along with Gaga. Doing tooooo damn much! I’ve also noticed on IG the rise of Bradley fan pages & the plethora of pap walks with his daughter… C’mon. It’s so carefully constructed.
I get the feeling he and Irina just tolerate eachother at this point. Keep thinking a little while after the awards season we’ll be hearing about a separation.
Exactly. I absolutely believe those two are splitting up after the Oscars.
I honestly won’t be surprised if they split after the Oscars.
Same.
Were they ever a real couple? Hard to tell these days 🙄
Give him a break over his daughter. There were lots of pics of him and his daughter and Shayk pretty much right after her birth. He might do an extra baby-papparazzi-walk for his Oscar campaign but that really shouldn’t be hold against him.
As I started to see more movies every year and also having watched some of the older classics, I realized the Oscars are never about the best performance. The Oscars are a business that’s manipulated by aggressive campaigns, ego, vanity and box office.
There are so many egregiously bad Oscar winning “performances” over the years, and especially over the last 10 to 15 years, that I don’t know how anyone can take Oscars seriously. I think that’s partly why the ratings have tanked. But I think the main reason viewership has declined is due to the proliferation of award shows and the internet. By the time the Oscars roll around it’s a done deal on the big categories. There’s no reason to watch, when you already know who will win. The last time I can remember being surprised was Adrien Brody dinning for The Pianist.
I really don’t understand Irina. She put in so much time as Renaldo’s beard, like why make the switch to Bradley Cooper? Someone is mismanaging her and its sad. You don’t deal with Cristiano Renaldo for years to end up with Bradley Cooper. You put in the time to be Renaldo’s beard to end up with average looking billionaire who loves you and treats you right (like Miranda Kerr and the snapchat dude).
Their daughter is adorable. I don’t really follow their personal life, but always find it a little icky when celebrities use that to push a movie or an award.