All About Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk's Daughter Lea De Seine

Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk welcomed their daughter, Lea De Seine, in March 2017

Bradley Cooper and daughter Lea
Photo:

John Salangsang/Shutterstock

Exes Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk are committed parents.

The Oscar-nominated actor and the Sports Illustrated model began dating in 2015 and welcomed their first and only child together, daughter Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper, in 2017. Cooper and Shayk called it quits two years later.

During their relationship, they made only a handful of public appearances together, preferring to keep their romance and their daughter out of the spotlight.

"Because my work requires me to be out there, I just decided my personal life will be quiet," Shayk told Glamour UK in 2019. "That's why it's called personal, because it's something for you and your family, and I feel happy with it."

Regardless of their relationship status, Cooper and Shayk are "friendly and get along" for their daughter's sake. According to a source, the family traveled to Italy during the summer of 2023 at Lea's request.

"Lea wants them all to travel together," the insider told PEOPLE. "They both want to make Lea happy."

During an interview with Elle in November 2023, Shayk discussed the parenting dynamic between her and Cooper.

"He’s the best father Lea and I could dream of," she said. "It always works, but it always works because we make it work."

From skipping over the "terrible twos" to the values they're trying to instill in their child, here's everything Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk have said about raising their daughter, Lea De Seine.

Shayk showed off her baby bump at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2016

Irina Shayk attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City
Theo Wargo/WireImage

Months before her birth, Lea technically made her catwalk debut at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 20216, where her mom showed off the first subtle glimpses of a baby bump while hitting the runway.

Soon after, a source confirmed to PEOPLE that Cooper and Shayk were expecting their first child together.

She is an Aries

Lea De Seine was born on March 21, 2017, in Los Angeles. Her parents did not address her birth publicly or on social media, though PEOPLE confirmed that she was born at 7:49 a.m., according to her birth certificate.

Cooper and Shayk kept a low profile after her birth, keeping out of the spotlight until that July when they took a star-studded vacation to Tahiti with pal Allison Williams and her then-husband Ricky Van Veen, as well as Anderson Cooper and his then-partner Benjamin Maisani, plus Diane von Furstenberg and Andy Cohen.

Shayk deals with mom guilt

Like so many moms who work outside of the home, Shayk suffers from a nagging sense of mom guilt whenever she's away from her daughter. Speaking to PEOPLE in November 2018, the Russian model added that she does her best to stay in constant contact with Lea whenever she is working.

"I'm the mom who's always checking in," she explained, adding that when it comes to mom guilt, "I'm really hard on myself."

Reminding herself that she's not alone has been her biggest comfort. "Everyone has it," Shayk said. "Time passes so fast. You just have to try to live in the moment."

She reminds Cooper of his father

Cooper revealed during a 2019 appearance on Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square that his daughter often reminds him of his late father, Charles, who died in 2011 from lung cancer.

"[Having a family has] changed everything," he said. "Our daughter, she's incredible. And I see my father in her quite often."

The actor shared that his father's presence is extremely palpable at times when he's alone with Lea — to the degree that he sometimes wonders if he's actually there. "I can't believe I'm gonna admit this, but I had moments when … I was in the room with her, I would say, 'Dad?' There are some moments where she looks just like my father," he said, adding, "I watch too many movies."

She and Cooper watch cartoons together

Bradley Cooper,Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper
Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP

One of the actor's go-to father-daughter bonding activities? Cartoons! Cooper explained during an April 2019 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that the pair love to watch TV together, an activity which has allowed him to reconnect with his inner child guilt-free.

"It allowed me to embrace my childlike self without any sort of like, fear of judgment," he said. "Like, I could just play with toys all day long and not feel like, 'Is this weird?' Or watch cartoons endlessly and not think I'm wasting my life. I love cartoons."

He added that Lea makes spending time together easy. Despite the stereotype of the toddler years being a period of growing pains, he told host DeGeneres that Lea never went through the "terrible twos."

"You know, I don't subscribe to that," Cooper said. "I don't even know what that means."

She doesn't have a nanny

Bradley Cooper attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Shayk first revealed that she and Cooper are raising Lea without a nanny in a September 2021 cover story for HIGHStyle.

We both take Lea everywhere with us,” the model told ELLE in 2023. "She’s super easy. Two days ago, I had to go to the gym, so I just got her a drawing book and said, ‘Mama’s working out.’ She was drawing for an hour. Then, we went to the Michael Kors fitting. She met all the girls. Michael gave her a bag. She drew him a kitty cat.”

Shayk is raising her to know women are "strong and powerful"

While being a single mom who works outside the home is difficult at times, Shayk wants to ensure she raises her daughter to understand that she loves and is empowered by her work.

"It's hard to find a balance between being a single mom and being a working woman and provider," Shayk told British Vogue in March 2020. "Trust me, there are days I wake up and I'm like, 'Oh my God, I don't know what to do, I'm falling apart.' "

She added that while she tries to minimize time spent away from her daughter, she also wants Lea to know that paid work and motherhood aren't mutually exclusive.

"I always try not to stay away from my daughter for more than a week, but I also don't want to be this woman who's not truthful to herself, because I love my work and I was raised in a woman-run household. I want my daughter to know that momma has a job in her life because I want to raise a strong, powerful woman. Presents and food do not come out of the blue."

She has "so many toys" — but is being taught to understand her privilege

Shayk came from humble beginnings, growing up in "the middle of nowhere in Russia" as the daughter of a coal miner and a pianist, she told Vogue in 2020. She's determined to pass down the same mindfulness and manners she was raised with, particularly as she and Cooper raise their daughter amid the Hollywood milieu.

"Me and her father are very strict. When she finishes eating, she gets up from the table, takes her plate, says 'thank you.' Without 'please' or 'thank you' she's not getting anything," Shayk told HIGHStyle.

"It's hard, because she has so many toys. I had one doll, and I still have this doll. Blonde, blue eyes, big Russian doll. My grandma used to make clothes for her," Shayk said, explaining that she tries hard to help her daughter understand that not everyone grows up with the same privileges.

"I always explain, 'Look, this is my doll. I had only one.' Or sometimes, 'You have this candy. I used to have candy only for Christmas,' " she added.

Fatherhood drastically changed Cooper's approach to work and life

Fatherhood has radically shifted Cooper's perspective on life, he shared on the SmartLess podcast in June 2022.

"Fatherhood is … everything changed," Cooper said, adding that overcoming addiction and becoming a dad helped him build a stable sense of self-esteem for the first time. "Every single thing is absolutely shaded by, or brought into glorious colors, by the fact that I get to be a father to a wonderful human being."

He explained that monumental moments that previously moved him to seem comparatively small next to the joy of raising his daughter.

"You have this wonderful thing or breakthrough with a script, or you have a wonderful moment on this set or in an editing room … you have like 40 of those moments every day with your kid, that are that level of joy," he shared. "That's not spinning it, that's just the truth."

She's growing up surrounded by love

Cooper credits his parents with raising him to feel deeply loved and supported, and now he strives to pass that positive environment on to his daughter as she grows up.

Speaking to NPR, he explained that part of what bonded him to his A Star Is Born costar, Lady Gaga, was that they both "were very, very loved as children." He added, "When I meet people that have had that similar upbringing, I can just see it in them."

He works hard to pass that same upbringing on to his daughter, he added. "That's the thing I want my daughter to have — I just always want her to feel loved."

While Cooper's late father made a big impact on the actor while he was alive, Cooper revealed that his dad's lessons still informs his life and parenting style.

In an exclusive clip shared with PEOPLE from an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, Cooper said, "I mean you learn from your predecessor's mistakes and I'll make tons that hopefully Lea will learn from and then being rigorous with myself to grow," Cooper said. "To help unburden her with any of my bulls---."

Cooper and Shayk talk to her about kindness every day before school

The co-parents are teaching Lea to be compassionate toward her peers.

"We're teaching our daughter that the most important thing is to be kind to people. Every time we send her to school, we're like, 'Just remember kindness and love,' " Shayk shared in an essay for Harper's Bazaar.

She continued: "With TikTok and Instagram and social media, my daughter is growing up in a different environment than I grew up in, so sometimes it kind of scares me. But most important is teaching our daughter bigger values than being pretty on the outside."

She has attended movie premieres with Cooper

Bradley Cooper and daughter Lea

John Salangsang/Shutterstock

In December 2023, the father-daughter duo attended the Los Angeles premiere of Cooper's film Maestro. Lea, who looked adorable in an animal-print dress and ballet flats, held her dad's hand as they posed for photos on the red carpet.

Lea also made an appearance at the Los Angeles premiere of IF in May 2024. The kid-friendly film stars Cooper and several of his A-list pals, including Ryan ReynoldsSteve Carell and Emily Blunt.

Cooper says he wouldn't be "alive" without her

The American Sniper star said he owes his life to Lea.

"Honestly, I'm not sure I'd be alive if I wasn't a dad," he admitted during an appearance on Dax Shepard's podcast, Armchair Expert, in February 2024. Shepard then asked, "What would've happened?" To which Cooper said: "I don't know. I don't know man, I'm not sure."

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