Suki Waterhouse Alluded to a ’Dark’ Breakup With Bradley Cooper

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Long before Suki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson, Suki Waterhouse and Bradley Cooper were the Hollywood couple. Their romance blossomed back in 2013, when she was just 21 years old and he was 38. Waterhouse says it took years to fully heal from their breakup, alluding to a “dark” story happening behind the scenes.

“I really will say that I’m pretty strong at this point,” she told British Vogue in her June 2 interview, “but when something very public happens to you and the story behind it is dark and difficult, and you’re actually not doing well, and you can’t explain yourself to the world, that’s very isolating and disorientating.”

Suki Waterhouse and Bradley Cooper split nearly 10 years ago in 2015, which Waterhouse estimates is about the length of time it’s taken her to figure everything out. “It probably has taken a decade to work myself out and actually be able to have this expansion in my life.”

Waterhouse's relationship with Cooper was all over the tabloids in the early 2010s, and one paparazzi photo in particular—showing the couple reading Lolita together in a Parisian park—was inescapable for a time. Considering the age difference between the couple, the choice of novel was noteworthy, to say the least. When they called it quits in 2015, sources said only that the two were in different places in their lives. “She loves Bradley and he loves her but she’s so young and wants to concentrate on her acting career before becoming a mom,” one told E! News at the time.

“Your 20s are pretty sadistic,” Waterhouse told British Vogue. “The love I experienced
[then] was only ever a fetishisation, and I think when you only get loved in that way, you
only get punished.” She continued, “When you get into your 30s you’re almost instantly afforded a little bit more respect. It’s kind of delightful and shocking at the same time.”

Originally Appeared on Glamour