How Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk's Oscars Body Language Looked to an Expert

Last night's Oscars were an affair to remember, with surprises—Olivia Colman! Period. End of Sentence! How Angela Bassett is apparently de-aging!—but nothing got the people going more than Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk. On the red carpet, Cooper and Shayk, who have together since 2015 and have a child together, were joined by Cooper's mother, Gloria Campano, before heading into the awards ceremony, where A Star Is Born would walk away with only one statue from the eight nominations the film had scored.

It wasn't all doom and gloom, though. Campano got a shout out from Julia Roberts, and Cooper joined co-star Lady Gaga on stage later on that evening for a steamy, sultry performance of "Shallow." Overall, however, the night was kind of a bummer for A Star is Born fans. But one thing nobody could drag their eyes from was Cooper and Shayk, and how their body language read on Oscar night. (Hint: Gaga/Cooper stans, you might be onto something there.) MarieClaire.com spoke with body language expert Patti Wood, author of Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma, about her opinion of one of Hollywood's most intriguing couples. 

Right away, Wood observed that this is a different situation than it would be if it were just Cooper and Shayk on the red carpet."You typically don't see couples with the guy's mother, and you don't see [mom and partner] being on the same plane," Wood explains. "If you look at their feet, he's not standing closer to [Irina] or closer to his mom, showing no favoritism between them. And sometimes, he has one foot slightly angled a little towards his mother, or a little more towards his wife." Cooper is known to be close to his mom.

"His hand-hold on each of them are equally as tight, and his fingers are intertwined in an equal way, so his hand hold is equitable," Wood continues. But while being equal, the hand-hold itself gave away a ton about Cooper's mindset that evening, according to Wood. "He's showing a lot of nervousness and anxiety in that hand-hold, by the stiffness and the outer reaching of the hand."

Shayk shows a desire to be seen with Cooper, according to Wood, but Cooper himself is a little more reticent—"He's leaning in slightly at the pants-waist, and kind of at the shoulders, but it's really slight, because when you go down towards the feet, his leg is out towards his mom."

"What's interesting is he's able to somehow able to balance the affection and caring between the two of them," Wood adds.

"I like that his chin is up, I like that they're looking at each other. But if you didn't show these photos, you wouldn't see that they have a lot of fun, are very playful. You'd be a bit worried, actually, that it's a cover, because he's so balanced with his mom." Wait, what does that mean?

Of course, we had to ask Wood about that performance between Lady Gaga and Cooper. She explained that the dynamic between Gaga and Bradley on stage was vastly different than the one between Cooper and Shayk. "It was so hot." What it comes down to is a difference in relationship dynamics, though—I'm not trying to stoke the flames of any Gaga/Cooper stans out there, and neither is Wood. "This is affection, this is having fun, it's very different. The song was a performance, but it was an extended performance, and he knew all the right things to do." Basically, Jackson Maine may have taken over for Bradley Cooper.

All in all, Cooper looks like he's found the balance in the relationship between his girlfriend and mother, and he's nervous—but none of it compares to the chemistry with him and Gaga on that stage. Even if it was a performance. Hear that, guys? It was a performance.

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