Bradley Cooper, privileged father

Bradley Cooper is on everyone's lips, for all the wrong reasons. The actor - who theoretically should be promoting his film Maestro, which he directs and stars in as orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein, earning him a whopping 7 Oscar nominations - seems to have forsaken the dream of the golden statuette to find his true self, embracing his quirky nature as a director and actor who instead of Oscar baiting (a practice he's been accused of repeatedly, since the days of A Star is Born) says whatever comes to his mind, dresses like a youngster, and freely lives his love story with Gigi Hadid. It's a shame that, in doing so, perhaps he fails to realize how much his freedom to express himself without fearing major consequences is a huge privilege, not only compared to us common mortals but also compared to his fellow actresses and directors.

Bradley Cooper, his statements on fatherhood

But what did he say? Particularly, his statements about his daughter Lea De Seine, born in March 2017 from his relationship with Irina Shayk, are stirring up discussion on social media. As a guest on Dax Shepard's podcast, Armchair Expert, he discussed how his attitude towards his daughter has changed over the years. "During the first months of my daughter's life, I didn't understand when other parents said they were willing to die for their children. For the first eight months, I didn't love her. It's nice, it's cool, to watch this thing change. I was fascinated by it, I enjoyed taking care of her, but I don't think I would have been willing to die for her if someone had come with a gun. That's my experience." But then he added: "Then suddenly it became obvious. My daughter is an anchor in a fast, glamorous life. It's like a tsunami has hit, my DNA told me there was someone in my life who was more important than me."

And all the rest

These words, actually, fit into a series of statements about his artistic method and his life in general. The forty-nine-year-old, in order, talked about having no issues with complete nudity in front of his daughter (and in the past, his father) and feeling the presence of the deceased Bernstein within him every day on set, which helped him interpret him better. Then, he moved on to tears talking about him while in the company of the artist's children, who followed the making of the film step by step.

If a woman had said these things?

We have no doubt that, now, the relationship between Bradley Cooper and Lea De Seine is normal, full of love, care, and affection. And we're not questioning the validity of a feeling that is also experienced by many women, and could fit into the realm of postpartum and postnatal depression, which Cooper himself might have experienced. What makes us think, though, is the reaction to these words. Few were outraged, many joked about it, others simply noted the peculiarity of these statements, all made very close to each other. Eccentricity or a way of expressing discomfort? We can't know, but we can wonder what would have happened if these things were said, for example, by Irina Shayk, Lea's mother. Every day mothers are attacked on social media for anything they do. If they show themselves, if they don't, how they dress, if they go out too much or too little, if they leave the child at home, for their choices about breastfeeding, and so on. Does Bradley Cooper realize he's navigating the world of parenthood from a place of privilege? Will we ever learn not to judge new moms and moms in general? We hope so, for both questions.