A Look Back At Bradley Cooper's Controversial Romance With Suki Waterhouse

People plugged into the pop culture zeitgeist are probably aware that model, actor, and singer Suki Waterhouse is with Robert Pattinson. Waterhouse announced her pregnancy in November 2023 and the couple's engagement was announced by sources the following month. Waterhouse and Pattinson have a six-year age gap, which is nothing compared to the 17-year age gap she had with former beau Bradley Cooper. Prior to dating Waterhouse, Cooper was with women much closer to his age. During his relationship with Renée Zellweger, there was only a slight age gap, since he is five years her junior.

Waterhouse and Cooper started dating in 2013 when she was 21 and he was 38. One of the biggest controversies of their romance was an impromptu book club at a park in Paris. In photos shared by the Daily Mail in August 2013, the couple were seen snuggled up together reading "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov. People couldn't help but observe that a controversial novel about a predatory man who sexually abuses his prepubescent stepdaughter is a very strange choice of reading material on a date with your significantly younger girlfriend.

Waterhouse was mostly tight-lipped about her and Cooper's relationship but she gave a small glimpse in an Elle interview from December 2013. She made it clear that she doesn't spend time reading what people say online and likened the deluge of online commentary to "less than a grain of salt in a huge beach of humanity." Then, the "Daisy Jones and the Six" actor mentioned ambitions for motherhood: "Not, like, now. And not next year. But in not too long."

While speaking with Elle, Suki Waterhouse said: "I don't talk about my boyfriend because it's boring. At least, that's what I decided to tell you when you asked." She did divulge a bit about their origin story, revealing she met Cooper at the Elle Style Awards in February of that year although that wasn't when they exchanged contact information. Waterhouse then made it clear she wasn't going to talk about him further.

By 2015, Cooper and Waterhouse called it quits. According to an insider for E! News, it was because Cooper wanted to take steps toward having a family. "Suki isn't ready," the source said, contradicting Waterhouse's previous claims in Elle. "She loves Bradley and he loves her but she's so young and wants to concentrate on her acting career before becoming a mom." 

Although the E! News source claimed the duo were still friendly after everything went down, a different story about the Waterhouse-Cooper breakup was told by an insider to Page Six. They claimed that Waterhouse "wasn't supportive of his acting career."

Needless to say, Suki Waterhouse and Bradley Cooper's time together wasn't one of the most successful age gap relationships. In a November 2022 interview with the Independent, Waterhouse admitted she moved to Los Angeles when she was 21 for "a guy." Waterhouse didn't mention her ex by name, although the timeline matches up with when she lived with Cooper and his mother, Gloria Campano. "It wasn't that cool," she said.

Waterhouse also posted a TikTok video in 2022 with a filter that gave her a beard and said, "Can't believe I let someone who looks like me with this filter break my heart" (via the Independent). She implied that Cooper was that "someone" by liking a fan's comment naming him. 

The video, which has since been taken down, featured Waterhouse's song "Melrose Meltdown." The lyrics describe the pain of a toxic relationship. The first verse has the lines, "I'll be crying on your milk-white sheets / Hoping one day we're married / In a house you'll build around me." Although it's not confirmed the song is about Cooper, its usage in her TikTok makes a case for a connection there. Both stars have long since moved on and, while Waterhouse seems happy with Robert Pattinson, signs that Cooper and Gigi Hadid's relationship is a PR stunt has put his love life on the front pages once more.