Bradley Cooper reveals he’s been sober for 8 years

Bradley Cooper has revealed that he no longer drinks or uses any recreational drugs, admitting that he got sober at the age of 29, after his partying lifestyle had left him feeling destructive and depressed.

“I don’t drink or do drugs anymore. Being sober helps a great deal… I remember looking at my life, my apartment, my dogs [when I was still using], and I thought, ‘What’s happening?'” Cooper explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I was so concerned what [people] thought of me, how I was coming across, how I would survive the day. I always felt like an outsider. I just lived in my head. I realised 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’.”

Cooper – now aged 37 – also recalled a particularly scary experience when his alcohol and drug use caused him physical injury, saying: “I was at a party, and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor. Like, ‘Hey, look how tough I am!’

“I did it again. [And] I spent the night at St. Vincent’s Hospital with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up.”

Following those incidents, Bradley decided to completely quit drugs and alcohol, saying it was a turning point for him.

Bradley currently stars in The Words, which is in cinemas now.