“My mom’s funny because she always thinks everything’s going to be a huge hit.” Bradley Cooper talks to @WillieGeist about his relationship with his mom, “A Star Is Born” success and what his late father would think of where he is now #SundayTODAY pic.twitter.com/gJuczA9sME
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 8, 2019
Bradley Cooper is still feeling the sting of his father’s death. The A Star Is Born director got emotional when asked about his dad, Charles Cooper, in a sneak peek for an upcoming segment on the Sunday Today With Willie Geist show.
“Do you think about what your dad would think about where you are in your career right now?” show host Willie Geist asked in a clip from the interview posted to Twitter on Friday, February 8.
“Yeah,” the Hangover star, 44, replied. “Sure. Yeah.”
When pressed about what he thought the late stockbroker would think of the Oscar nominee today, Bradley, was visibly shaken. “Huh. I don’t know, man,” he said, adding, “Yeah, you know. It’s a part of the life,” as he covered his mouth with his hand. Charles passed away at the age of 71 in January 2011.
“He was your guy?” Geist, 43, asked.
“Yeah,” a teary-eyed Bradley said with a smile. “Yeah.”
The Silver Linings Playbook actor previously discussed his dad’s death with Vanity Fair in January 2015, telling the publication that “losing someone close” helped him prepare for his role as Chris Kyle in American Sniper. “Going through love and loss…knowing what’s important. Realizing that the bottom line is that all I got is me, so it’s about time to stop trying to be something that I think you would want me to be,” he said at the time. “Or that would give me what I think I need. As you get older, thank God, your body deteriorates, but your soul sort of flourishes.”
Bradley also shared with Geist how his mother, Gloria Campano, reacts to his success.
“You know, my mom’s funny, ‘cause she always thinks everything’s gonna be a huge hit,” he said. “And I’m always like, ‘Mom, no, this one’s not gonna work,’ and she’s always like, ‘Bradley, no, I’m telling you,’ I’m like, ‘Mom, it’s not gonna work,’ you know what I mean?”
The Grammy nominee said that in more recent years, Campano has changed her tune a bit, however. “She started being like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m wrong.’ So now, she does it with caution, which I kinda dig, man. She’s like, ‘I don’t know, it’s tough out there’ … She’s definitely, like, did a total 180.”
