Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are not dating. But after watching Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's intimate performance of Shallow at the Oscars, you'd be forgiven for wondering out loud (or all over social media) if there is a budding romance between the two A Star is Born principles.
My thought, after a little mental deliberation, was that Lady Gaga is simply the most theatrical person in music today -- and one of the most theatrical ever. When she's performing, she is in the moment. And when performing a love song with her co-star, she will continue to act. Because Lady Gaga.... that's just who she is. For a bit of context, we should also remember that Bradley Cooper's long-time girlfriend was watching this performance from the front row and seemed totally NOT bothered by it. She knew what was going on, and it wasn't romance. It was simply two people who are good actors -- very good! -- in full performance mode. And we, the audience, believed it completely.
Wednesday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Lady Gaga confirmed that there is no romance: "Yes, people saw love and guess what? That’s what we wanted you to see....I’m an artist and I guess [Bradley and I] did a good job… fooled ya!”
Although Lady Gaga is suddenly single after calling off her engagement to Christian Carino, Bradley Cooper is very much involved with Irina Shayk. And if she wasn't bothered by the performance, maybe we should all just chill. But it's hard to deny that there is real chemistry between these two, and that's why this fourth version of A Star is Born may be the best yet.