Bradley Cooper's candid words about fatherhood are going viral

Bradley Cooper is one of the most-talked about people in the world, and this award season, with nods in both the Best Actor and Best Director categories for his critically acclaimed film Maestro, there are no signs of him slowing down.

It is Cooper's words on fatherhood that have made him news this week however, with the 49-year-old speaking candidly about his six year-old daughter, Lea, who he shares with ex partner Irina Shayk.

During a recent episode of Armchair Experts, Cooper opened up about how fatherhood changed his life, telling hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman: “Honestly, I’m not sure I’d be alive if I wasn’t a dad. I don’t know what would have happened."

“I just needed someone to say, ‘We’re gonna drop this massive anchor,’” Cooper recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Why? We’re speeding. I just got an upgrade on the boat, and I know where the wind is coming in.’ And they’re like, ‘No, no, no, there’s a tsunami coming, and you need an anchor, and we’re gonna drop it, because this is going to dictate everything you do from now on.’ Your DNA is going to tell you that there’s something more important than you.”

Cooper also spoke candidly about the time it took to get to grips with fatherhood and bond with his daughter when she was a baby.

“Everyone is always like, ‘I would die in a second for my kid,' [and I was always like], ‘If I’m being honest, eh, I don’t know.’ The first eight months I’m like, ‘I don’t even know if I really love the kid. It’s dope, it’s cool, I’m watching it morph. That’s my experience -fascinated by it, loved taking care of it, but would I die if someone came in with a gun? It’s only a couple of months - she could be an asshole! And then all of a sudden, it’s like no question."

We will continue to update this story.