Bradley Cooper Says He Owes Everything to Being Sober

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Bradley Cooper doesn’t take his 11 years of sobriety for granted. The actor has not shied away from publicly discussing his past battle with alcohol. And in an interview with Barbara Walters this week, Cooper said sobriety not only changed his life, but saved his career.

“I would never be sitting here with you, no way, no chance [if I hadn’t gotten sober,]” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to have access to myself or other people, or even been able to take in other people, if I hadn’t changed my life. I never would have been able to have the relationships that I do. I never would have been able to take care of my father the way I did when he was sick. So many things.”

When Cooper first “came out” about his recovery in 2012, he said prior to getting sober at age 29, his addiction to alcohol and painkillers was taking a toll on his work. "I was so concerned [with] what you thought of me, how I was coming across, how I would survive the day," he said. "I always felt like an outsider. I realized I wasn't going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me."

Since then, things have been on the up-and-up for the 40-year-old actor. Cooper’s breakout success came after his starring roll in The Hangover, and he’s since starred in a string of box office hits, like American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook. But he believes none of this would’ve happened if he hadn’t put down booze and pills 11 years ago. "The one thing that I've learned in life is the best thing I can do is embrace who I am and then do that to the fullest extent, and then whatever happens, happens,” he said in 2013.