Parenting is pretty well known for being a herculean task that can be revelatory for those who decide to take it on. And, though doing so while in the public eye and separated from your child’s other parent can be even harder, it can certainly still be a positive game changer for many. Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper (who’s up for several awards for Maestro, which those with a Netflix subscription can enjoy) was recently quite candid about how he has heart to heart talks with his young daughter while on the toilet, because, you know, parenting is “24/7.”
What Did Bradley Cooper Say About Toilet Talks With His Daughter And Parenting?
Listen, while I don’t have children I definitely know people who have or are raising several, and I have heard parenting tales that might shock even others who are parents, so I’m here to judge nothing. But, I was still relatively surprised when Bradley Cooper spoke with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast and opened up about just how he has his heart to heart talks with his six-year-old daughter, Lea (whom he co-parents with ex Irina Shayk), while he’s using the bathroom.
While chatting about their rather extensive morning routines, Shepard noted that his daughters come into the bathroom during his, um, morning constitutional, and sit to talk to him, and Cooper added:
My bedroom is the bathtub, the toilet and the bed are all in the same room. It’s 24/7 dude! We talk where I'm on the toilet, she's in the bathtub. That's sort of the go-to.
OK! If nothing else, the actor (whom Shepard admitted helped him share his sobriety journey) is correct that parenting just doesn’t stop once it begins…EVER. As such, you have to take advantage of any moments that you can to connect with your kids, listen to them, impart any wisdom you may have, and take in their wisdom, as well.
When she spoke about co-parenting with Cooper, Shayk said they don’t use nannies when just hanging out with their daughter, but simply “take Lea everywhere with us.” Obviously this is good for making sure that the parents and child are close, and it also seems to mean, at least for Lea’s dad, that bathroom conversations as he…does his business while she bathes, are A-OK.
Of course, part of this has to do with the fact that the American Sniper star does not, apparently, have a bedroom/bathroom set up like most of us do, with separate rooms and doors and whatnot. Nope. As he tells it there’s just a whole floor that serves as his en suite, with everything open and accessible from the stairs that lead to that level of his home. He doesn’t get into whether or not there are internal doors for other rooms, but this is certainly an intriguing way to live that I simply wouldn’t have considered before.
When he’s not hobnobbing with other A-listers like David Beckham at events, the proud dad has spent a lot of time working on himself and his mental health in an effort to make sure that “the least amount of damage that I could do to my daughter” as he raises her comes out of it. When Shepard mentioned the idea that we can tend to grow up and choose people who have the traits we saw in our parents while we were children, the A Star is Born talent (who seems to be getting serious with model Gigi Hadid) said:
I think about that a lot, in terms of how does my relationship with my daughter impact her growth and the journey she’s going to be on, and, specifically, romantically, in life. I’ve clocked that - she’s going to be seven in March - I think I’ve already logged more hours with my daughter than I did with my dad his entire life. The sheer amount of time that my daughter and I have hung out is bonkers. I can feel the safety that she feels…that is so fulfilling.
Awwww! Look, parenting is a lot of work, but something tells me that if you’re doing it right, you’ll have at least one moment of feeling like Cooper does when he has those safe toilet talks with his daughter.
