Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga may have played onscreen love interests in A Star Is Born, but it’s their offscreen bond that has driven fans wild.
The twosome formed a friendship while filming the critically acclaimed 2018 musical, which also marked Cooper’s directorial debut. The filmmaker revealed that one of his first encounters with the singer actually happened before they joined the project when they bonded over a shared meal.
“I was hungry, she made me food,” Cooper shared during an appearance on Conan in September 2018, noting that Gaga offered him some leftover pasta that she had in her home. “It was insane. She made me feel so comfortable.”
When A Star Is Born premiered the following month, viewers couldn’t help but wonder whether the chemistry between Cooper and Gaga in the roles of Jack and Ally, respectively, was more than acting. At the time, the American Hustle star was in a relationship with Irina Shayk and Gaga was engaged to Christian Carino.
Cooper and Shayk began dating in 2015 and welcomed their first child together two years later. Following the birth of their daughter, Lea, the “Million Reasons” singer gushed about the Limitless actor’s transition to parenthood, telling Elle in November 2019, “He’s a beautiful father.”
Earlier that year, Cooper and Shayk called it quits after four years of dating. Gaga, for her part, ended her engagement to Carino in February 2019 after two years together.
In June 2019, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Shayk wasn’t worried about Cooper’s close friendship with Gaga, but the movie still had “a major impact” on the model’s relationship. “Even though there was nothing romantic between Bradley and Gaga, the noise was difficult for Irina to deal with,” the insider said.
However, the “Bad Romance” singer clarified that she and Cooper played up their chemistry with the goal of promoting their film.
“For me, as a performer and as an actress, of course we wanted people to believe that we were in love,” she told Elle in November 2019, reflecting on their iconic rendition of “Shallow” at the Academy Awards earlier that year. “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 later revealed that the Nightmare Alley star’s support impacted her acting career after A Star Is Born was released. (She went on to earn acclaim for her performance in 2021’s House of Gucci.)
“Bradley Cooper really believed in me for the role of Ally Maine. The way that he empowered me to take helm of that character, as well as take helm of the soundtrack, and work with him so closely on a movie about music and a movie about musicians, [that] really was the success of our artistic collaboration,” she told Entertainment Weekly’s “Awardist” podcast in December 2021. “And I think that landed me where I am now, which is where I’m able to read lots of scripts and talk to lots of different directors. And it’s a true honor.”
Scroll down to see all the times Cooper and Gaga were friendship goals: