Bradley Cooper says he wasn't initially sure if he 'really loved’ his daughter Lea De Seine

Bradley Cooper isn't sure if he would "be alive" if it wasn't for his daughter, although he didn't feel quite so strongly when she was first born.

The "Maestro" star, 49, opened up about parenthood on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, recalling the moment he realized he loved his 6-year-old daughter, Lea De Seine, so much that he would die for her. This realization came about eight months after she was born, Cooper said.

"If I'm being honest, the first eight months, I'm like, 'I don't even know if I really love the kid,'" he said. "It's dope. It's cool. I'm watching this thing morph. (I'm) fascinated by it. Love taking care of it. (But) would I die if someone came in with a gun?"

"Armchair Expert" co-host Monica Padman applauded Cooper for his "honesty," suggesting this is the experience of "a lot of" parents but that they're "afraid" to admit it. "My experience was totally that," Cooper said.

But the "Hangover" star recalled realizing "all of a sudden" that he would die for Lea "no question." After becoming a parent, "Your DNA is going to tell you that there's something more important than you," he said.

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Cooper shares Lea with ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk. In December, he brought her to the premiere of his movie "Maestro," which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his role as Leonard Bernstein. Lea also appears in the film as a young version of Bernstein's daughter.

On the podcast, Cooper said he isn't sure he would "be alive if I wasn't a dad." The actor, who has been open about struggling with drug addiction in his 20s, also described being addicted to cocaine as the "greatest gift" because he may not have gotten sober otherwise.

"If it was just alcohol, I think I would have carried the lineage of my predecessors, and I'd be 50, I'd be a dad thinking that drinking's fine. And then one day, my daughter would see me the way I saw my dad, and who knows what I would do," he said.

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Comparing his relationship with his daughter with his relationship with his own father, Cooper reflected that he has "already logged more hours with my daughter" than he ever did with his dad.

"The sheer amount of time that my daughter and I have hung out is bonkers," he added. "I just can feel the safety that she feels. It's so tangible. It's palpable. That is so fulfilling."

Cooper also said he and Shayk are both blown away by their daughter's "ability to articulate her feelings at six years old," joking, "I don't even think I found what my speaking voice was really like until, like, a couple of years ago."

Contributing: Naledi Ushe

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bradley Cooper wasn't initially sure if he loved daughter Lea De Seine