Inside Bradley Cooper and Ex Irina Shayk's Parenting Journey

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Exes Irina Shayk and Bradley Cooper Reunite For Trick-or-Treating with Daughter Lea

When a baby was born to Irina Shayk and Bradley Cooper in 2017, the pair had been a couple for two years.

And though they split up not long after their daughter Lea's second birthday, they have remained the model of togetherness when it comes to parenting.

"We always find a way," Shayk told Elle last November. Cooper is "the best father Lea and I could dream of. It always works, but it always works because we make it work."

Yet they've been known to make it look easy, the exes—who live blocks away from each other in New York—having taken Lea on numerous vacations and celebrated many a holiday as a trio, including this Halloween.

And when they're parenting separately (Shayk finds the term "co-parenting" redundant), "We both take Lea everywhere with us," the supermodel added. "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."

And Kors got a picture of a kitty to show for it.

But it seems as if they can truly take Lea anywhere: That was the 2-year-old with her father at the Kennedy Center in 2019 watching Dave Chappelle receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. (Some of the jokes may have gone over her head, but she was a rapt audience.)

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In addition to being a good traveler and a fun hang at Fashion Week and ceremonies honoring contributions to the humanities, the now-7-year-old also seems at ease on the red carpet—and in front of the camera.

Lea has joined her dad at several premieres over the past year, and Cooper went all in on take-your-child-to-work-day while making his 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, casting her as the conductor's daughter Jamie in her younger years.

But the occasional work-related outing aside, Cooper and Shayk for the most part keep Lea out of the public eye.

On the rare chance she shares family snaps with her 23.7 million Instagram followers, Shayk is more inclined to post throwback pics. And when she included newer photos in an "In [heart emoji] with..." slide show on Oct. 13, she covered Lea's face with a sticker.

(For the record, Shayk is also in love with bread, gourds, sunflowers, dolphins and the moon.) 

Irina Shayk/Instagram

Two days after that post, Shayk walked in the return of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Oct. 15—as did Cooper's current girlfriend, Gigi Hadid.

Cooper couldn't make it to watch in person because he was "on dad duty," Hadid told ET backstage before the show. But, she added, the actor was "so supportive."

After Shayk and Cooper broke up in 2019, she was briefly linked romantically to high-profile suitors such as Kanye West and Tom Brady, but her answer tends toward a polite no-comment whenever she's quizzed about her love life.

"I share my work stuff because I decided to keep my personal life personal," she told Elle last year. "That’s why it's called personal, because it's something that belongs to me. If one day I feel like I want to share it, I will."

Cooper, who's on the same page as Shayk when it comes to discussing his personal relationships (as in, he doesn't), is more likely to talk about how being a father is everything to him.

Which, for their child's mother, is what truly matters.

"I want her to have as much foundation as she can—I think about how my relationship with my daughter impacts her growth and the journey she's gonna be on," Cooper told Dax Shepard on a February episode of Armchair Expert. "The least amount of damage I can do to my daughter—please, let me work on myself."

He admitted it took about eight months before he could think of fatherhood in a way more profoundly than "it's dope, it's cool," but in hindsight everything changed the second Lea was born.

"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," Cooper gushed on a June 2022 episode of Will ArnettJason Bateman and Sean HayesSmartless podcast. "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. That's not spinning it, that's just the truth."

Another reason why Shayk is so comfortable on the days when Lea is in her father's care.

Cooper was "full-on, hands-on dad—no nanny," she told Highsnobiety in 2021. "Lea went on holiday with him for almost two weeks—I didn't call them once."

And that's why she doesn't refer to herself and Cooper as co-parents.

"When I'm with my daughter, I'm 100 percent a mother," she explained to Elle in 2021, "and when she's with her dad, he's 100 percent her dad. Co-parenting is parenting."

While they keep most of the family album to themselves, when Lea and her parents do go public the results are adorable:

Irina Shayk/Instagram

Beach Babes

Among the pleasures that model Irina Shayk shared she was in love with in an October 2024 Instagram post: Time spent on the beach, sunflowers, pumpkins and Lea de Seine, the 7-year-old she shares with former boyfriend Bradley Cooper

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Wild Child

"Watch out for KITTY CATSSS," the runway regular declared in a June 2024 post, sharing a slew of feline-themed throwbacks of her little girl. 

Irina Shayk/Instagram

The Cat's Meow

In the same carousel of photos, Irina included this snap of Lea leaning into her wild side. And the Victoria's Secret model has shared that her little one is the purrfect companion.

She and Bradley "both take Lea everywhere with us," she declared to Elle in 2023. "She's super easy.” Among their outings: A fitting with Michael Kors. Lea left with a goody bag from the designer and in return, shared Irina, "She drew him a kitty cat."

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A Star Is Born

After making a cameo in Dad's Oscar-nominated 2023 biopic Maestro (Bradley co-wrote, starred in, directed and produced the movie), Lea made her red carpet debut at the L.A. premiere that December.

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Another Look

"She was great,” Bradley gushed of his daughter's performance. “She was really awesome.”

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Bradley's Muse

Though Irina didn't attend the L.A. premiere, she did provide her Instagram followers with this glimpse of a private screening. Unsurprisingly, Bradley named his production company after his pride and joy. "He's the best father Lea and I could dream of," Irina told Elle. "It always works, but it always works because we make it work."

Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP

Dad's Plus One

Bradley credits his daughter (who joined him to watch A Star is Born costar Dave Chappelle receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center in 2019) with making him a better man. 

"I want her to have as much foundation as she can—I think about how my relationship with my daughter impacts her growth and the journey she's gonna be on," he said on a February 2024 episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd. "The least amount of damage I can do to my daughter—please let me work on myself."

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