Bradley Cooper says he's ‘lucky’ he got sober when he did

Bradley Cooper has opened up about his challenges with addiction on a new episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge.

In the season two premiere of the series, Cooper - who is currently facing controversy over his upcoming film Maestro - faces harsh winds and towering heights in the Wyoming Basin.

After zip-lining across a 100-foot ravine, the American Sniper star speaks to Grylls about his relationship with fame.

He tells the British adventurer he was lucky because he became famous slowly, rather than overnight.

He was 36 when The Hangover was released and had been 'in the game for 10 years just bangin' around'.

"I didn't get lost in fame," he says, to which Grylls points out that he definitely had some 'wild' times in his youth.

"In terms of alcohol and drugs, yeah. But that had nothing to do with fame, though," Cooper admits.

"But I was lucky, y'know? I got sober at 29 years old. And I've been sober for 19 years."

Cooper goes on to explain that his own experiences with addiction and sobriety helped to inform his performance in his 2018 directorial debut A Star Is Born, in which he played an alcoholic musician.

National Geographic

"It made it easier to be able to really enter in there," he says. "And thank goodness I was at a place in my life where I was at ease with all of that, so I could really let myself go."

Last year while appearing on the SmartLess podcast, Cooper shared that it was actually something Will Arnett said to him that made him decide to get help.

In 2004, Cooper and Arnett were neighbours. Arnett popped by one afternoon to find Cooper still hadn't taken his dogs out to use the bathroom. It was 4pm.

He also asked the actor what he thought about a dinner they had been to the night before.

Cooper remembered it going well, and him being funny at it, but Arnett said: "You were a real asshole."

Netflix

"That was the first time I ever realised I had a problem with drugs and alcohol," Cooper explained.

"And it was Will saying that to me, and I’ll just never forget it."

The now 48-year-old said his friend is 'the reason' he went sober.

"He took that risk of having a hard conversation with me that put me on a path of deciding to change my life," he said.

"You went through this metamorphosis before The Hangover. Having those realisations and having that change allowed you to - that's what opened you up and allowed you to be you," Arnett told him.