Cooper Bradford is the son of the richest couple in Westport. Almost every adult in Westport tries to get on his good side in hopes of getting in good with his parents, who travel a lot and often leave Cooper at home. He forms a close bond with Oliver Otto, whom he cares for very much, and the entire Otto family due to the fact that they treat him like a normal. He starts calling them Mom and Dad. At first, they dismiss it or oppose it, but eventually they accept it. He also gets life lessons from the Otto parents like their children; like having him do chores or even punish/ground him.
He seems to have a neglecting family. In one episode, Oliver states that “Cooper likes the way his mom yells at him, because it’s the only time he sees or hears of her.” In Girls’ Night Out, Cooper says “I wish I had parents around to ground me” after Trip says “I wish being grounded was this fun at my house.”
His father was not supportive of his culinary ambition.
Throughout season 4 and 5, people refer Oliver and Cooper as boyfriends, despite the fact they both have denied it.
Season 1[]
Cooper is first mentioned in season 1, episode 4, where Oliver says that Cooper is throwing a party and heard rumors that he will give an XBOX ONE get started. Cooper is physically introduced at Oliver's surprise party and is surprised that he lives in a house rather than a mansion like he does. When Oliver lies about his family actually being rich but having to be in deep cover, Cooper is skeptical but accepts it after Oliver answered a couple of questions. Throughout the party, he is seen with two other people standing behind him on his right and left side like bodyguards.
During Anna-Kat's eighth birthday party, the other Westport mothers talked bad about Katie for letting her eight-year-old daughter walk three blocks to the library by herself. Cooper refuses to allow them to talk about her in such a manner and comes to Katie's defense. During his speech about how Katie is the best mother, he reveals that neither of his parents have even been in the same country as him for his last five parties. During the entire episode, Katie had been trying to get rid of Cooper by making him do chores and housework as well as following family rules such as not wasting food, causing Katie to force Cooper to eat the rest of the granola bar he had dumped into the bin, but in the end of the episode, she says he's part of the family when they're going out to eat.
Season 5[]
In Graduation, it is revealed that Cooper's parents have sold their Westport Estate and are moving to Palm Beach, Florida. Cooper doesn't want to go with them, but doesn't seem to have any choice in the matter. After Oliver tells Katie about this, she calls Cooper's parents and they come to the agreement that Cooper will live with the Ottos until he graduates high school.
In Coupling, Cooper becomes jealous of Oliver's developing friendship with Trevor, complaining that Oliver spends all his time working on Gyftee with Trevor, and then comes home late with no energy left to hang out with Cooper. As a result, Oliver decides to let Cooper join the business, despite knowing that Trevor won't like it
In Homeschool Sweet Homeschool, Cooper and Oliver decide that they've outgrown Oliver's bedroom, so Cooper hires contractors to renovate the basement into a mini-apartment, which is where he and Oliver live for the rest of the series. Also, Katie asks Walker to come over and show the boys what they could grow up to be if they don't stop relying on the Bradford's money, causing Cooper to decide to give up his credit cards.
In Encourage, Discourage, Cooper needs to pick up something that was delivered to his old address, and Oliver tells Cooper to use his bike to get it. Cooper refuses, and Oliver assumes that Cooper thinks he's too good for Oliver's beat up bike until Cooper reveals that he never learned how to ride one because his parents were never around long enough to teach him. Greg teaches Cooper to ride a bike.
In The Heist, Trevor tells Cooper that he doesn't bring anything valuable to the Gyftee team since giving up his money, and this leads Cooper to an existential crisis. After trying several potential life purposes, including drawing and comedy, Franklin, Anna-Kat, and Oliver help him realize that he wants to become a chef.
In Getting Frank with the Ottos, Franklin has the whole family as guests on his podcast, and mentions that Cooper and Oliver have a "boy and his dog" relationship, which leads Cooper to admitting that he doesn't think he wants to go to Harvard with Oliver. Eventually, they decide that Cooper will try to go to Cambridge Culinary School, so they can both study what they want without being far from each other.
In The Election, Cooper tells his dad that he wants to go to culinary school and become a chef, but his dad is very against the idea, deciding that Cooper can no longer live with the Ottos because they are a bad influence on him. Katie convinces him otherwise, and Cooper's dad decides to not only let Cooper continue living with the Ottos, but that he can go to culinary school after he graduates.