Bradley Cooper opens up about recovering from cocaine addiction

Bradley Cooper has spoken candidly about his struggle with cocaine addiction in the early days of his career.

The Licorice Pizza star, who has been sober since 2004, appeared on the latest episode of the Smartless podcast to share his rehabilitation story.

Speaking to Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes about his "problem" with drugs, Bradley admitted he "was so lost and I was addicted to cocaine" at the time of filming the TV show Alias.

Bradley appeared in Alias as Will Tippin between 2001 and 2006 but his starring role was reduced to guest-starring partway through.

"In terms of the 'made it' thing, that's when I made it," the actor said. "But I definitely did not feel, moving to Los Angeles for Alias, feeling like I was back in high school. I could not get into any clubs, no girls wanted to look at me. I was totally depressed."

The A Star Is Born actor/director admitted he was glad his addiction struggles took place before he skyrocketed to fame with 2009's The Hangover.

"I was 36 when I did The Hangover, so I got to go through all those things before fame even played into my existence on a daily level," he added.

Bradley explained that between the ages of 29 and 36, he was in the process of recovering from his addiction, saying, "I definitely made major breakthroughs at 29 to 33, 34, where at least I was able to stand in front of somebody and breathe and listen and talk."