Bradley Cooper offers curious denial he’s had plastic surgery

For months, Bradley Cooper’s face has been relentlessly scrutinized on social media, with celebrity watchers and plastic surgeons offering their takes on which cosmetic treatments or surgical procedures he’s supposedly undergone.

The 51-year-old “A Star is Born” actor and director got the chance to finally address the rampant plastic surgery rumors and to generate headlines that he has denied them — courtesy of his longtime friend Will Arnett. But while appearing on Arnett’s “Smartless” podcast, alongside co-hosts Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, Cooper didn’t offer an emphatic denial that he’s had any work done.

Rather, Cooper let Arnett express outrage on his behalf and be the one to insist that he not undergone any cosmetic procedures — in a way that theoretically gives Cooper some wiggle room on the topic.

The context for his conversation was Cooper making a surprise appearance on the “Smartless” podcast. He and Arnett mentioned doing interviews for their new movie, “Is This Thing On.” Arnett stars in the film, which Cooper directed, about a man who turns to stand-up comedy while going through a divorce and mid-life crisis. Arnett and Cooper said they had just done an interview and photo shoot for GQ magazine, and Arnett said each was asked to name something that people don’t know about the other.

About Cooper, Arnett said: “‘Well, there’s a lot.’ And then I was gonna say, because we keep reading everybody thinks that Bradley’s had plastic surgery. Everybody keeps saying that. I’m like, ‘What people don’t know is that he hasn’t.’ Right?”

“That he hasn’t,” Bateman confirmed.

“Yeah, of course he hasn’t,” Arnett reiterated.

That’s when Cooper didn’t chime in to say, “No, of course, I haven’t had any plastic surgery.” Instead, he quickly said: “No, I get people, like some people came up to me the last couple weeks, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you look good.’”

That’s all Cooper said on the issue, and it wasn’t exactly an emphatic denial, as the Daily Beast also pointed out. Among other things, Cooper wasn’t expected to get into specifics and he did not deny, for example, that he had any surgeries or nonsurgical cosmetic treatments, such as Botox or injectable facial fillers.

So, while some might characterize his comment about looking good as a denial, it’s not likely to satisfy people online, the Daily Beast said. That may include one London-based doctor who speculated in a viral video that Cooper had a lower facelift, jawline tightening and eyelid surgery to give him a more lifted, open-eyed look, along with possible hair transplants and laser treatments to make his skin look smoother.

Speculation rarely ceases after celebrities confirm or deny specific procedures, the Daily Beast added.

Of course, Cooper perhaps just wanted to just laugh off the rumors because he knows that they are ridiculous. But Arnett said he doesn’t think the rumors are that funny.

“It made me mad,” Arnett said, “because I’m like, people say that all the time, and … it’s such a hilarious thing. Everybody thinks that they know. You know you read that (expletive) stuff.”