Now a successful Oscar-nominated actor, Bradley Cooper is opening up about the struggles he went through early in his career. In a small role opposite Jennfier Garner in Alias, he was depressed and unhappy with the way his life was going.
Cooper told GQ’s January issue that when he asked creator and director J.J. Abrams to write him off the show, he hit rock bottom and started abusing drugs and alcohol.
"And then next thing you know, I was like, 'I want to f---ing kill myself,’” he admitted, saying Abrams “probably would've fired me, anyway."
Cooper explained of his addiction, "If I continued it, I was really going to sabotage my whole life. I think work was getting f---ed up. The one thing that I've learned in life is the best thing I can do is embrace who I am and then do that to the fullest extent, and then whatever happens, happens. The more steps I do to not do that, the farther I am away from fulfilling any potential I would have . . .Yes, of course it hindered the work."
Us Weekly notes when things started looking up for him career-wise, he eventually realized he didn’t need the drugs or alcohol.
"I was doing these movies, and I got to meet Sandra Bullock and meet these people and work with them," he said. "And I'm sober, and I'm like, 'Oh, I'm actually myself. And I don't have to put on this air to be somebody else, and this person still wants to work with me? Oh, what the f--- is that about?’ I was rediscovering myself in this workplace, and it was wonderful."
image: GQ