Bradley Cooper Reflects on Past Struggles With Addiction and Loss

Dec. 2, 2014— -- Bradley Cooper is at the top of his game, but the actor opened up about a time in his past when things weren't going so well.

In the January issue of Vanity Fair, the 39-year-old actor talked about his struggles with addiction, losing his father and his once-stalled career and how such hardships have helped him prepare for his latest role as Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood’s "American Sniper."

"Losing someone close to me. Going through love and loss … knowing what’s important," Cooper said of the struggles that have shaped him. "Realizing that the bottom line is that all I got is me, so it’s about time to stop trying to be something that I think you would want me to be. Or that would give me what I think I need. As you get older, thank God, your body deteriorates, but your soul sort of flourishes."

To play sniper Kyle, Cooper also had to transform himself physically. Sober since August 2004, Cooper chose to do it the old-fashioned way, without any stimulants.

"I did it naturally because I’ve been sober for 10 years and didn’t want to do anything," he told Vanity Fair. "I had a realistic conversation. Can I do this in three months naturally? Can I gain 30 pounds of...muscle? I didn’t know if I would be able to do it or not. Thank God—luckily—my...body reacted fast."

The two-time Academy Award nominee also discussed the difficulties of trying to make it in Hollywood and how he considered hanging it up in 2006 when he appeared on Broadway in "Three Days of Rain," opposite Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd, an experience he called "an amazing opportunity."

Cooper recalled thinking then, "If this doesn’t work, then I’m not supposed to do this for a living," he said, and even contemplated going back to school for a Ph.D. in English and teaching literature.

It worked, however, and Cooper went on to star in the successful "Hangover" movies, "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle."

"I always knew I wanted to be in the trenches with a director making the movie," he told the magazine. "I always felt that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. I always knew deep down that if I’m not going to do that then I’m not too long for this business."

Now Cooper is eyeing directing next.

His "American Sniper" co-star Sienna Miller told Vanity Fair, "He’d be brilliant, but he’d be a nightmare [as a director]. He won’t let anyone get away with anything."