Remember when Twitter went gaga for that steamy “Shallow” duet at the 2019 Oscars? Lady Gaga wants to reassure fans there’s nothing else she was searchin’ for with co-star Bradley Cooper.
After starring together in 2018’s “A Star Is Born” remake, Gaga and Cooper’s red carpet and award show appearances had fans buzzing with speculation over whether they had translated their on-screen romance to real life.
The Oscars performance in particular raised eyebrows: The collaborators looked each other lovingly in the eyes as they sang about taking a leap of faith, all while Cooper’s then-girlfriend and mother of his son, Irina Shayk, watched from the front row. (After reports of the couple’s breakup over the summer, tabloids and fans on social media speculated it had something to with his relationship with Gaga.)
“Quite frankly, I think the press is very silly,” Gaga said, speaking to Oprah Winfrey for the December issue of Elle. “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.”
Gaga said she and Cooper worked on the Oscars performance “for days” and “orchestrated (it) as a performance.” Referring to Cooper as a “beautiful father,” she agreed with Winfrey that, had the actor actually been in love with her, he wouldn’t have been able to look her in the eyes the way he did that night.
Translation: Those loving looks were nothing more than good old Hollywood acting.
“In truth, when we talked about it, we went, “Well, I guess we did a good job!’ ” she said of their viral moment.
Contributing: Sara M. Moniuszko, USA TODAY.