LOS ANGELES — Bradley Cooper says he learned a thing or two about romance by keeping a close eye on his own family.
"The truth is I got it first from my parents, who've been married since 1963," the 34-year-old actor tells Parade of his romance knowledge. "I got it from them and from my grandparents who are still together."
Cooper, who is currently dating actress Renée Zellweger, tells the mag that watching his own family over the years gave him plenty of insight on how to make a relationship work.
"I grew up in a very old-fashioned Roman Catholic, Italian-Irish family in Philly," he explains. "Now my parents have evolved into completely different creatures, in terms of their marriage and the roles of the man and the woman. It's completely evolved. And I think that's great, but it's still romantic."
Cooper also says he picked up a few tricks by watching his favorite stars onscreen.
"Of course I was also influenced, like everybody else, by movies and TV shows," he says. "But, then, you sort of figure out that you don't need to replicate what you see. In a relationship you want to treat people the way you want to be treated. And, you figure that out after sussing through all these ideas of how love is supposed to be."
After hitting paydirt earlier this summer in "The Hangover," Cooper is now starring alongside Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve." While the pair do have some steamy work together, it's a far cry from Bullock's nude ways with Ryan Reynolds in "The Proposal."
"I don't feel cheated that Sandra Bullock kept most of her clothes on with me," says Cooper. "At least we got sort of a love scene. I got to touch her breasts. OK, she had a bra on, but I still made contact. Actually, Sandra was attacking me physically in that scene. There's just something in her eyes when she's on top of me saying, 'I'm going to eat you like a lion,' that's so funny. But I wouldn't have minded going a little farther."
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