Irina Shayk Is Pregnant, So Here Are Daddy-to-Be Bradley Cooper's Thoughts on Family & Fatherhood

Actor's girlfriend, Victoria's Secret model Irina Shayk, is pregnant with their first child together

By Natalie Finn Dec 01, 2016 9:25 PMTags

Bradley Cooper is gearing up for the role of a lifetime.

We mean fatherhood, obviously.

E! News was first to report last night that Cooper's girlfriend Victoria's Secret model Irina Shayk, is pregnant with what will be the first child for both of them—and judging by what we've heard so far from sources close to the couple, the happy development fits right into each one's master life plan.

"They both want kids one day and that's been discussed between them," an insider told us last year, just a few months after Cooper and Shayk had started dating.

As for what they have said about each other during the course of their relationship...

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Bradley Cooper & Irina Shayk: Romance Rewind

They haven't said much!

Cooper—who wasn't too far removed from a breakup with girlfriend Suki Waterhouse—and Shayk, who was just as barely removed from the end of her five-year relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo when she started dating Cooper, have made a concerted effort to play this one close to the vest.

They didn't even walk a red carpet together until this past March, nearly a year into their relationship. It was a stunner, of course.

James Devaney/GC Images

At other times, however, Cooper has spoken candidly about the importance of family to him (fairly obvious considering his two-time Oscar date, Mom) and about his desire to become a father at some point.

"I loved waking up in my family, and that's not always the case [for others]," Cooper told Barbara Walters in 2014 when he was selected as one of her most fascinating people of the year. He has talked in various interviews about his relationship with his own father, who helped turn him onto cinema as a kid, and how Charles Cooper's death in 2011 marked a turning point for him as far as his overall outlook on life.

"It almost did the opposite of motivating me," Cooper told British GQ recalling the effect the loss had on him. "It was about keeping the main thing the main thing." (As in, don't expect a Leo-esque career-long Oscar campaign from him anytime soon.)

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Bradley Cooper's Best Roles

About becoming a dad himself, Cooper told Details in 2013, "I really hope I have that experience in my life. I saw how much joy fatherhood gave my own dad. So I hope it's part of my journey. You go through stages in your life, and fatherhood seems like a natural stage."

Understandably, one of Cooper's regrets was that his own kids one day wouldn't get to meet their grandfather.

"I'm sorry my father won't be around to see his grandchildren, but he knows fatherhood was something I was looking forward to," the three-time acting Oscar nominee then told Square Mile magazine a little later in fall 2013. "That's my next big step in life."

Of course, he had to meet the right person first.

"I would say I am a romantic, for sure. I think most guys are deep down," he told the Mail Online in January 2013 about the first-comes-love part of the equation. "I look at my parents, who have been married happily since 1963, and my grandparents are the same. What guy wouldn't want that?"

A question for the ages in Hollywood, sir.

"I think the thought of a traditional family home is awesome," Cooper added. "Traditional roles are becoming a thing of the past, but I think there is something really charming about them."

Whether or not he and Shayk choose to set up house in a more "traditional" fashion, consider us charmed by the parents-to-be already.