Lady Gaga Talks Her Oscars Performance With Bradley Cooper

(Image credit: Kevin Winter)

published 6 November 2019

We all saw it—Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's undeniable chemistry while singing "Shallow" at the 2019 Oscars for their award-winning film, A Star Is Born. Even before we witnessed Cooper stare at Gaga longingly while she played the piano, fans were convinced the two had a relationship off-screen. Gaga's breakup from her fiancé Christian Carino after the film was released didn't help. Neither did Cooper's divorce from longtime girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, Irina Shayk.

In the December/January issue of ELLE, Gaga still finds herself explaining that Oscars performance with Cooper...this time to Oprah. Referring to Cooper, Oprah says, "He said his Catholic guilt would have never let him be able to look you in the eye at that piano. How did you feel about all of that at the time? You handled it so well."

Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (From A Star Is Born/Live From The Oscars) - YouTube

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Gaga replied, "Quite frankly, I think the press is very silly. I mean, we made a love story. For me, as a performer and as an actress, of course we wanted people to believe that we were in love. And we wanted people to feel that love at the Oscars. We wanted it to go right through the lens of that camera and to every television that it was being watched on. And we worked hard on it, we worked for days. We mapped the whole thing out—it was orchestrated as a performance."

She continues, "In truth, when we talked about it, we went, 'Well, I guess we did a good job!'"

Make of it what you will...

Read Gaga's full ELLE interview here.

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Rachel Epstein is a writer, editor, and content strategist based in New York City. Most recently, she was the Managing Editor at Coveteur, where she oversaw the site’s day-to-day editorial operations. Previously, she was an editor at Marie Claire, where she wrote and edited culture, politics, and lifestyle stories ranging from op-eds to profiles to ambitious packages. She also launched and managed the site’s virtual book club, #ReadWithMC. Offline, she’s likely watching a Heat game or finding a new coffee shop.