Well, you’ve got to respect his hustle. Long before he was an Oscar-nominated actor, Bradley Cooper was a self-proclaimed expert in successfully executing a friends-with-benefits relationship.
Philadelphia Inquirer writer Tommy Rowan took to Twitter on Tuesday, January 23, to share an archived Philadelphia Daily News article written by an 18-year-old Cooper. In the piece, Cooper, who was an intern with the paper at the time, attempted to answer the question: “Can best friends who are of the opposite sex hook up with each other without destroying their friendship?”
Intern Bradley Cooper, age 18, wrote in his first @PhillyDailyNews story: "Can best friends who are of the opposite sex hook up with each other without destroying their friendship? In my case, yes . . . so far." Bold. pic.twitter.com/DDyKIFtNqM
— tommy rowan (@tommyrowan) January 23, 2018
Cooper, now 43, detailed his own personal experience, implying that because it had worked out for him, it was ultimately possible for everyone else. Although he noted the complications that may arise from a friends-with-benefits relationship, such as jealousy, he explained that when it came to his situation with his best friend at the time, Deborah Landes, the two never felt the need to turn their relationship romantic. “It is very relaxed between us,” he wrote. “We have simply brought our friendship to another level.”
While he explained that there had “always been an underlying attraction” between the two, “it was never confronted” until their senior year of high school. The choice to wait, he explains, greatly contributed to the success of their dynamic: “If this happened when we were freshmen in high school, we probably wouldn’t have taken such a laissez-faire attitude.”
As the duo, who went to prom together, wrapped up their high school experience, Cooper expected their friends-with-benefits situation would as well. He predicted at the time: “Once college hits, our relationship with definitely return to a ‘best friendship.’”
While it’s unknown if the American Hustle star was correct in his assumption about his future with Landes, he has since brought his dating expertise to past romantic relationships with Renee Zellweger, Zoe Saldana and Suki Waterhouse. He has been dating Irina Shayk since 2015, and the couple welcomed daughter Lea De Seine in March 2017.
