By Madeline Mitchell, USA TODAY,

41 minutes ago

NEW YORK – Bradley Cooper has a call to action: Everyone needs to start talking about the caregiving crisis and how to solve it.

The Academy Award-nominated actor said as much at a screening for his new documentary, "Caregiving."

"This is the beginning," he said. "You know, it actually starts now."

Cooper attended the event with his daughter, Lea, who wore a white dress and pink flowers in her hair. And some of Hollywood's most well-known family caregivers joined on Thursday, June 12, at the United Nations headquarters to celebrate Cooper's latest project.

In attendance were Emmy Award-winning "Orange Is the New Black" actress Uzo Aduba; Bruce Willis' wife, Emma Heming Willis, who is launching a book in September, "The Unexpected Journey," about her caregiving experience; and "20/20" coanchor Deborah Roberts, who moderated a panel at the event while her husband, the "Today" show's Al Roker, snapped photos from the audience. (Roberts has cared for Roker through several surgeries over the years, including after his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2020.)

Former President Jimmy Carter's grandson, Josh Carter, was also there with his family.

A clip from the documentary (premiering June 24 on PBS at 9 p.m. ET), which features caregivers from across the country, screened Thursday for about 200 guests.

"This is the beginning," Cooper said, adding he hopes the film sparks a national conversation about the care crisis.

"Obviously, the ultimate goal is to actually create a system where people can be taken care of in other ways," Cooper said.

For now, by telling his own story and amplifying the voices of caregivers everywhere, the documentary aims to build community.

"Just so we don't feel alone," Cooper said.

It's working.

"For so long it's felt like it's our family against the world," said Kristin Denning, 34, a caregiver who was at the event.

Denning lives in Georgia and helps care for her mother, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Denning said her father is her mother's primary caregiver. "And to be here with other people and to hear stories very similar to our own, it's so important to me that we're not alone in feeling these things."

Cooper said he only realized he was a caregiver for his father in retrospect. Aduba echoed the sentiment with her story about caring for her mother.

"There's a large, wide net of people who are walking through the same experience and having this invisible work be part of their day-to-day experience, with nowhere or few places where they get to feel as though their voice and experience are heard," Aduba said.

It's a common refrain from family caregivers, that they didn't know they were part of the caregiving community until later. Matthew Cauli, who continues to share his journey of caring for his sick wife and young son on social media, said the same thing. He had to quit his job when his wife had two strokes and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I still haven't wrapped my head around it," he said.

Chris Durrance, who directed the "Caregiving" documentary, said caregiving is "perhaps one of the great untold stories of the country today."

Financial stress and emotional stress are some of the most pressing issues for caregivers, said Ai-jen Poo, executive director and board secretary for Caring Across Generations.

Tarek Rabah, president and CEO of Otsuka North America Pharmaceutical Business, one of the underwriters for the film, understands the emotional toll. His parents are in Lebanon, he said, and it's hard being so far away from them even though he feels "super blessed" that they have an in-home caregiver.

Still, Rabah said he "dreads the moment" he gets a call that something has gone wrong.

"It's always in the back of my mind," he said.

For Cauli, the daily stress can be all-consuming and he's been struggling to make ends meet. Between taking care of his wife and his son, Cauli said, he could never go back to a traditional 9-to-5 job.

During the panel, Roberts asked Cauli how he takes care of himself, too. Cauli shook his head and threw up his hands, shrugging. The rest of the room gave knowing nods and chuckled in empathy.

Cauli found his answer in the woman sitting in the audience who continues to regain her strength and relearn skills five years after her strokes changed their lives forever.

It might be a cheesy answer, he said, but it's true.

"Seeing my wife progress."

Madeline Mitchell's role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal Ventures and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach Madeline at [email protected] and @maddiemitch_ on X.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'This is the beginning': Bradley Cooper's documentary unites celebrity caregivers