Irina Shayk opens up about life after Bradley Cooper in British Vogue

Irina Shayk’s life is in transition. The Russian-born supermodel is still finding her footing after separating from actor Bradley Cooper, with whom she shares three-year-old daughter, Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper. The couple were together for four years before quietly parting ways in June of last year. Speaking to British Vogue, Shayk confided that the split hasn’t been easy. “I think we’ve been very lucky to experience what we had with each other,” she shared, adding, “Life without B is new ground.”While any breakup is hard, it’s naturally even more difficult to navigate when a child is involved. On the subject of motherhood after a breakup, Shayk was quite candid. “It’s hard to find a balance between being a single mom and being a working woman and provider. Trust me, there are days I wake up and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know what to do, I’m falling apart.’”[video_embed id='6007449673001']RELATED: Lady Gaga gushes about 'artistic genius' Bradley Cooper[/video_embed]This isn’t the first time Shayk has had to balance work and family. After losing her father to pneumonia when she was just 14, the model was compelled to remain strong alongside her mother and older sister. Living in an isolated Soviet Russian town called Yemanzhelinsk, the family built emotional walls in order to survive a number of challenges—a trait that Shayk readily acknowledges.“I have a strong personality and I definitely know what I want, and I think some men are scared of that,” she said in a preview of the March issue of the mag, which hits newsstands January 31. “If somebody’s out of my life, they’re out of my life and I really cut all the ties, you know? I think some people are really scared of this coldness. I also think not many people know that underneath this there’s a nice, sweet person who cries in interviews.”

 

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Introducing #IrinaShayk as #BritishVogue’s March 2020 cover star. Born in the depths of a Soviet winter, but now living the life of a supermodel, Shayk has a backstory that reads like a fairy tale. In her most revealing interview ever, she opens up to Editor-in-Chief @Edward_Enninful about Hollywood break-ups, single motherhood and why the best is yet to come. Click the link in bio for Edward Enninful’s editor’s letter, and see Shayk captured by #MertAlas and #MarcusPiggott in this season’s most coveted pieces, on newsstands Friday, 31 January. @IrinaShayk wears a @Prada sequined silk-gauze dress and @EmiliaWickstead gloves. Photographed by @MertAlas and @MacPiggott and styled by @Edward_Enninful, with hair by @PaulHanlonHair, make-up by @Lucia_Pieroni, nails by @Chisatochee and set design by @MigsBento.

A post shared by British Vogue (@britishvogue) on Jan 27, 2020 at 9:02am PST

Despite the emotional intricacies of their situation, Shayk doesn’t seem to be harbouring any obvious resentment toward Cooper (not even after all those Gaga rumours, which all parties denied). Speaking about the end of their relationship, Shayk acknowledges that these things are complicated. “I think in all good relationships you bring your best and your worst—it’s just the nature of a human being,” she opined. “Two great people don’t have to make a good couple.”She also talked about wanting to blend into the crowd when she was growing up a a tactic to avoid bullying and disliking having her photo taken. Of course the runway and magazine staple has grown into a confident women in front of the camera, but it was a journey."I was really shy as a child, she told Vogue U.K. editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. "And I kind of hated being in pictures. Look at me now!”[video_embed id='1881174']Pam Anderson secretly weds Jon Peters[/video_embed]