We’ll get to Bradley Cooper in a minute. Let’s first talk about this conversation between Lady Gaga and Oprah for the new issue of ELLE. How did this happen? For all the things she has going on, how did Oprah end up interviewing Gaga for a magazine? When she has her own magazine. Like, yes, this job is Oprah, and she’s been doing it for 30 years – but why this one in particular? I’m not criticising, I’m curious. I’m curious about how Oprah spends her time and how she chooses to spend her time.
Perhaps the angle here is mental health. This has been Oprah’s focus the last few years and she’s collaborating with Prince Harry on a mental health documentary for Apple in 2020. Gaga has been one of the most outspoken mental health advocates in the business. That’s definitely a connection – and most of their discussion is about Gaga’s mental health experience, what she’s learned, how she’s managed her own recovery from trauma and sexual abuse and, of course, the impact of fame.
What I have always appreciated about Gaga is how articulate she is about pain. Because she’s been through so much of her own, she speaks about it with so much elegance and empathy, it’s not hard to see why people relate to her and are drawn to her – because she’s articulating much of what they feel too. If you need an example, rewatch her interview with Stephen Colbert last year when he asked her about Dr Christine Blasey Ford. And go back to all the times she defended Kesha in her lawsuit against Dr Luke. People respond to Gaga because she gets it. She gets it because she’s been there. And all of that is evident in this interview with Oprah.
Who then asks about Bradley Cooper in the most Oprah way possible. Bradley comes up because Gaga refers to him when she talks about working on A Star is Born and winning an Oscar. From there, Oprah casually mentions that she was sitting in Bradley’s kitchen the other day, just hanging out, eating takeout, watching him care for his daughter. I mean…
What other interviewer is going to have an in like that to segue to what she really wants to know – which is whether or not Gaga and Coop are or were dating. Only Oprah doesn’t put it that way. What she says is that she was actually talking to him about those rumours and that Bradley told her that if they really were together they couldn’t have performed in the movie and at the Oscars as if they were together because he wouldn’t have been able to look her in the eye. Which means that if it were real, he’d feel too self-conscious about inviting millions of people to observe the reality.
We’ve f-cking been here before, too many times, but… exactly. And Gaga concurs, going on to say that of course they had to be convincing IN CHARACTER because they wanted people to be drawn into the story that they were telling in the film. Her conclusion, then, is that they did a great job, that they are very good actors.
Can we move on now?
Click here to read Oprah’s interview with Lady Gaga in ELLE.