Bradley Cooper Credits Will Arnett with Helping Him Get Sober 21 Years Ago by 'Having That Hard Conversation with Me'
- - Bradley Cooper Credits Will Arnett with Helping Him Get Sober 21 Years Ago by 'Having That Hard Conversation with Me'
Tommy McArdleDecember 19, 2025 at 12:48 AM
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Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett, circa 2005 -
Bradley Cooper said in a new interview that his friend Will Arnett made a major impact on his decision to get sober in the 2000s
The pair met in the early 2000s and have been friends ever since
Cooper and Arnett's new movie Is This Thing On? is in theaters Dec. 19
Bradley Cooper is opening up about his friendship with Will Arnett and Arnett's impact on his decision to get sober in the 2000s.
While Cooper, 50, and Arnett, 55, both spoke with The Hollywood Reporter for a piece on their new movie Is This Thing On? published Thursday, Dec. 18, Cooper reflected on a candid 2022 appearance he made on Arnett's podcast SmartLess in which both men discussed their experiences with sobriety. As the outlet noted, Cooper and Arnett recalled how Arnett helped the actor and director get sober back in 2004.
“Will took the risk of having that hard conversation with me that put me on the path of deciding to change my life. It is truly Will Arnett, he is the reason,” Cooper told THR. “And it helped that it was the guy I thought I was emulating. It’s not like somebody else said it. Like, the king told me.”
“I think it allowed us both to open up and talk about our shared history, and how profound and deep those connections were," Arnett said of how that SmartLess episode impacted their friendship. As THR reported, the podcast episode resulted in the two men spending more time together, eventually culminating in their decision to work together on Is This Thing On?
Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald
Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett in Is This Thing On?
According to THR, the pair originally met more than two decades ago through Amy Poehler, whom Arnett was married to from 2003 to 2012. At the New York Film Festival in October, Arnett told PEOPLE that he and Cooper "instantly hit it off and became pals" when they first met at a bar in New York. They also at one point were neighbors in a Los Angeles building that Dennis Hopper lived in.
“Will was always the funniest guy in the room,” Cooper said of his earlier memories of Arnett. “The fact he’d even talk to me back then made me feel cool — and then we ended up living next to each other as young actors in Venice and we became really good friends.”
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Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper on Oct. 10, 2025
Arnett and Laura Dern star in Is This Thing On? as a married couple who are on the verge of divorce as they raise two young sons just outside New York City. Cooper, who wrote and directed the film, also has a small role.
Arnett told PEOPLE at the GQ Men of the Year celebration on Nov. 13 that his friendship with Cooper “made it so much easier to work on something that was really, intensely emotional," with the movie. "Because we do have that long-time friendship, we could really rely on each other and be really honest with each other."
Is This Thing On? is in theaters Dec. 19.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
