Inside Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk's notoriously private relationship.

Bradley Cooper has been on most people’s radars for a while now.

We were first introduced to the 44-year-old actor, writer, and director, when he played Jennifer Garner’s best friend in the TV series, Alias.

He then went on to star in some of the biggest blockbusters of the last decade including The Hangover franchise, The Silver Linings Playbook, and American Sniper.

Then, last October, he starred alongside Lady Gaga in the third remake of A Star Is Born. Cooper also wrote and directed the adaptation.

The movie, which quickly became a fan favourite, propelled Cooper into a whole new level of fame. And a whole new level of… thirst.

LISTEN: What the Bradley Cooper you like says about you. Post continues after audio…

Fans fell in love with Cooper and Gaga’s on screen chemistry and became convinced they should get together in real life.

The thing is, Cooper is already happily “married” to someone else. The dad-of-one began dating Russian model Irina Shayk in April 2015.

Shayk was born in Yemanzhelinsk, a small town in the Soviet Union, in 1986. Her father was a coal miner and her mother was a primary school teacher. Her father died from complications of pneumonia when she was just 14 years old, which meant her mother had to hold down two jobs to support Shayk and her sister, Tatiana.

After she finished high school, Shayk enrolled in a local beauty school with Tatiana. There she was scouted by someone who worked at a local modelling agency. This talent scout encouraged the then 18-year-old to enter the Miss Chelyabinsk 2004 beauty contest. Shayk entered the competition and won.

The model first rose to international fame in 2007, when she became the exclusive contracted face of Intimissimi lingerie. She then appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2011, and on the covers of international magazines including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and ELLE.

In 2014, she made her acting debut, appearing alongside Dwayne Johnson in Hercules.

In November 2016, Cooper and Shayk told fans they were expecting their first child together. Shayk announced the news by showing off her baby bump during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

The couple welcomed their daughter in March 2017 and named her Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Heading to @sephora_russia @marcjacobsbeauty with my new friends Kolizey and Glinka from dog shelter @povodog www.povodog.com . Если кто-то хочет приютить Колизея и Глинку, обращайтесь в приют Www.povodog.com

A post shared by irinashayk (@irinashayk) on Jan 26, 2019 at 3:27am PST

According to Cooper, becoming a dad put his life and career into perspective. Once Lea was born he made the decision to only be involved in projects that really spoke to him.

“I spent about 15 years going from movie to movie to movie. And then I hit 39 and I stopped and I said, ‘What do I really want to do?’ I want to tell Joseph Merrick’s story in The Elephant Man. So I did that for a year,” he told NPR in 2018.

“Then this story came to me, A Star Is Born, and then I spent the next four years doing that. And the one thing that I know in the future is: It’s worth all the time to dedicate, even if one piece of art comes out of it in a half a decade, that would still be incredible as long as I can feel like it’s the movie I wanted to make, which is this movie.

“So I guess having a child, and having a family of my own—which is a miracle and something I’ve always dreamt of—has opened me up even more, I guess, to the day, and to be present.”

Since the birth of their daughter, Shayk has continued to work as a supermodel. She remains the face of Intimissimi lingerie and is the official ambassador for the Pomogi charity in Russia, which provides care to sick children.

Although the couple likes to keep a low profile, Shayk has been accompanying Cooper on the red carpet throughout the awards season.