Bradley Cooper Lady Gaga
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 24: (L-R) Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga perform onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

I don’t think anyone will forget the moment Lady Gaga rested her head on Bradley Cooper‘s shoulder during a performance of “Shallow” at the 2019 Oscars. Following the release of A Star Is Born in 2018, we were all convinced that the pair must be dating (even if Cooper was seeing Irina Shayk at the time). After two years, the actor has finally addressed that performance and exactly what went on behind-the-scenes.

In an interview for The Hollywood Reporter, the outlet explained, “He had conceived the performance to unfold like a scene from the movie in part to help manage his own fears about singing live.”

Cooper told the publication, “Just from a personal standpoint, it reduces the anxiety level. They kind of fall in love in that scene in the film. It’s that explosive moment that happens to them on a stage in front of thousands of people…It would have been so weird if we were both on stools facing the audience.”

In a 2019 interview, Gaga responded to the mass hysteria in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel live. She said that it was simply good acting.

“Yes, people saw love and—guess what—that’s what we wanted you to see,” she told the late night show host. In another interview a the timeGaga also addressed the media frenzy. “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,” she said.

You can’t blame us though. Gaga did call off her engagement to Christian Carino just days before the Oscars. As for Cooper, he broke up with Shayk shortly after the Oscars saga only to have seemingly reunited with the model this week (we’re not kidding).