Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt both credited Bradley Cooper for sobriety help
"Maestro" star Bradley Cooper has proven to be one of Hollywood's most helpful heroes.
Brad Pitt revealed in 2017 that he joined Alcoholics Anonymous in a bid to turn his life around, and through hard work with supportive friends, he landed a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood," which also earned him an Oscar in 2020.
During the awards season, Pitt specifically thanked Cooper for helping him on his sobriety journey after accepting an award presented by Bradley from the National Board of Review.
BRAD PITT IN FIRST SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP SINCE INTENSE ANGELINA JOLIE SPLIT: WHO IS INES DE RAMON?
Bradley Cooper wears many hats as an actor, and plays a hero in real-life, too. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
"Thank you, Bradley. Bradley just put his daughter to bed and then rushed over to do this," Pitt said. "He's a sweetheart. I got sober because of this guy and every day has been happier since. I love you. Thank you."
Cooper shares daughter Lea de Seine with ex Irina Shayk. He's most recently been linked to supermodel Gigi Hadid.
Ben Affleck relied on the "American Hustle" star for support, too, while confronting an alcohol addiction.
Irina Shayk and Bradley Cooper dated for four years before calling it quits in 2019. (Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images)
Bradley Cooper presented Pitt with an award in 2020. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Affleck credited Cooper (and Robert Downey Jr.) as "guys who have been very supportive and to whom I feel a great sense of gratitude," in a 2020 interview with The New York Times.
Cooper has been sober for 19 years. He revealed in 2012 that he got sober after fearing that drinking would "ruin" his life.
BRADLEY COOPER ADMITS HE WAS ‘ADDICTED TO ’COCAINE' IN HIS LATE 20S: ‘I WAS SO LOST’
"I don't drink or do drugs anymore," Cooper said. "I realized I wasn't going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, 'Wow, I'm actually gonna ruin my life. I'm really gonna ruin it.'"
A wake-up call from Will Arnett in 2004 helped Cooper change his life.
Pitt credited Cooper for helping him get sober. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
During a chat on Arnett’s "SmartLess" podcast, co-hosted by Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, Cooper recalled feeling like he was "back in high school" when he moved to Los Angeles for his role in "Alias."
He picked up a "mean humor" attitude to overcompensate for insecurities after being fired from the show. Cooper realized he hit "rock bottom" following a dinner party with Arnett when he was 29.
"Will was like, 'Hey man, do you remember we had dinner the other night? How do you think that went?'" Cooper said. "I remember being at the dinner thinking I was so funny, and I thought these two guys who were my heroes thought that I was so funny. I was like 'I thought it was great. I thought I was killing.'"
He added: "Will Arnett was like, 'You were a real a--hole, man. You were a real a--hole.'"
Cooper said Will Arnett was the one to help him straighten out his life nearly two decades ago. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
"That was the first time I ever realized I had a problem with drugs and alcohol," he said. "The guy that I think is doing mean humor is telling me the truth and it changed my entire life."
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Cooper remembered Arnett asked him if he had taken his dog out yet, and he realized it was already 4 p.m.
"I was so lost and I was addicted to cocaine," Cooper shared. "Will took that risk of having that hard conversation with me in July of 2004 and that put me on a path of deciding to change my life. It truly was Will Arnett. He is the reason."
When Brooke Shields was in the midst of having a grand mal seizure, who was there to save her? Bradley Cooper.
Shields recalled waking up to Bradley Cooper holding her hand in an ambulance after she suffered a seizure. (Getty Images)
Before a performance of her one-woman show, "Previously Owned by Brooke Shields," she recalled walking into the restaurant L’Artusi, but not much else. Shields had "drank all this water" that day and was evidently low on sodium before she went "headfirst into the wall."
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
When she woke up, she told Glamour magazine, "Bradley f---ing Cooper is sitting next to me holding my hand."
"I didn’t have a sense of humor. I couldn’t really get any words out," she said. "But I thought to myself, 'This is what death must be like.' You wake up and Bradley Cooper’s going, ‘I’m going to go to the hospital with you, Brooke,’ and he’s holding my hand. And I’m looking at my hand, I’m looking at Bradley Cooper’s hand in my hand, and I’m like, 'This is odd and surreal.'"
Cooper was called after the sommelier at the restaurant first tried to reach Shields’ husband, Chris Henchy. An assistant reached Cooper, who happened to be nearby. Brooke and Bradley had worked together on the 2008 flick, "Midnight Meat Train."
"His assistant called Bradley and said, ‘Brooke’s on the ground. Chris isn’t around. Go get her.’ And he came, and somebody called the ambulance. And then it was like, I walked in with Jesus."
Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to
