No 'Bad Romance' Here! All About Lady Gaga's Relationship History
The pop superstar says she can't wait to be a mom.
Lady Gaga is prepared to make a big splash on the big screen portraying Harley Quinn in the new movie Joker: Folie à Deux. For the decorated celebrity, acting is the latest art form she's conquering—after pop stardom, philanthropy and fashion.
As she once told Cosmopolitan, her priorities have always centered on her own hopes and dreams. "Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams," she told the outlet. "If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore."
While a hopeless romantic at heart, Gaga speaks from experience: As her professional career has skyrocketed, her love life has weathered its share of rocky times, and she's dealt with plenty of heartbreak and breakups. However, these days, Gaga seems to have reached a near-perfect work-life balance, thanks to her solid relationship of nearly three years with boyfriend Michael Polansky.
Although many of her past relationships were high-profile, she's keeping her love life on the down-low these days and staying mum about the details of her relationship with Polansky. Perhaps it's no wonder the couple seem to be on very solid ground. Keep reading for a look at Lady Gaga's romantic history to date.
Is Lady Gaga married?
Lady Gaga's never been married, although she's been engaged twice before. In 2011, she started dating Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney, who starred in the video for her song “Yoü And I."
The couple became engaged on Valentine's Day 2015—Kinney gave her a heart-shaped ring—but broke things off two years later. In Gaga: Five Foot Two, she hinted that the breakup had to do with her burgeoning career. "I did a movie and lose Taylor," she said, nodding to A Star Is Born. "This is the third time I've had my heart broken like this."
A year later, she became romantically linked to Christian Carino, a Hollywood talent agent; the couple became engaged soon after that. By early 2019, however, they had broken up. “It just didn’t work out. Relationships sometimes end,” a source told PEOPLE. “There’s no long dramatic story.”
However, a source told Us Weekly that, like the breakup with Kinney, there might have been tension between her personal life and professional ambitions. “She was devastated at first,” the source said, but dished that Carino’s personality “infringed on her creative process," spurring the breakup: “[She] couldn’t risk jeopardizing her career in that way, over a man, and that’s not something she would stand for.”
Who is Lady Gaga's boyfriend?
Gaga's maybe-beau of almost three years, Polansky, has an impressive resume: A Harvard grad and tech entrepreneur, he is currently the executive director of the Parker Foundation, a philanthropic organization started by Sean Parker, who co-founded Facebook.
The couple was first spotted in Las Vegas at NoMad Restaurant on New Year's Eve 2020, walking hand-in-hand and smooching at midnight. In early February 2020, they went Instagram-official with an adorable photo featuring Gaga sitting in Polansky's lap.
Throughout the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were spotted out and about and occasionally together on social media. When Gaga released Chromatica in the spring of 2020, she posted an Instagram video of them dancing to the song "911" along with helium-filled balloons that spelled out the album's name.
The pair also began collaborating professionally. He was part of the team for 2020's Gaga-curated One World: Together at Home fundraiser (which featured performances by the Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish and Paul McCartney, among others). On MSNBC's Morning Joe, Gaga called Polansky "the love of my life" in relation to a project brewing at her Born This Way Foundation.
In 2021, the couple was still going strong. Polansky was by Gaga's side as she performed at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and he sent her a giant flower arrangement for her March birthday. “When your bf sends you all the flowers in Rome for your birthday,” she gushed on Instagram. “I love you honey
????. I can’t wait to be home with you and our dogs, that’s all I need.”
Fast forward to October 2022 and rumors swirled that the couple had hit a "rough patch" and that they were "taking some breathing space" to figure out where they wanted to take their relationship. Neither of them have commented publicly on their relationship, but Gaga hasn't shared any pics of Polansky on her socials since summer 2022. In 2023, she walked the Oscars red carpet with her Top Gun co-writer BloodPop.
Is Lady Gaga engaged?
Gaga and Polansky aren't engaged. In August 2021, a source told Entertainment Tonight that Polansky is Gaga's "North Star,” and called the couple "the real deal," adding, "He is such a grounding and guiding presence for her… He loves Lady Gaga, but he’s in love with Stefani." In a November 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gaga reiterated how positive the relationship is for her: "My dogs and the man that I love are my whole life.”
Related: Was Carole King Ever Married to James Taylor? Find Out All About the Musical Icon's Marital History
Does Lady Gaga have kids?
Lady Gaga doesn't have kids, but hopes that one day, motherhood is in the cards. “I will say I am very excited to have kids,” she told InStyle in May 2020. “I look forward to being a mom. Isn’t it incredible what we can do? We can hold a human inside and grow it. Then it comes out, and it’s our job to keep it alive.”
Part of this dream no doubt stems from the close relationship Gaga has with her own mom, Cynthia. "When I was a little girl, I was just fascinated with her morning beauty ritual," she told Allure in 2019. "I would wake up and I would see her getting ready for work. She would apply her foundation, her lipstick, her mascara. She would look so, so beautiful and so strong."
This seeming mundane experience stuck with Gaga. "She just had such a bravery about her, and it was so inspiring to me," the icon continued. "[I want my kids to have] that same experience. That’s the greatest gift of all, when you can connect with your parents.”
Did Lady Gaga date Bradley Cooper?
After A Star Is Born was released to critical and commercial mega-acclaim in 2018, rumors abounded that Lady Gaga was an offscreen item with her co-star and director, Bradley Cooper. The pair's steamy 2019 Oscars live performance of “Shallow," which ended with them singing cheek to cheek, did nothing to quell the rumors of a romance.
Fans immediately memed the longing looks Gaga and Cooper gave each other, imagining (if not hoping) the talents might hook up in real life.
That certainly seemed possible: Gaga and Carino had broken up soon before the Oscars in early 2019, and when “Shallow” took home the Oscar for Best Original Song, Gaga told Cooper, “Thank you for believing in us.”
Unfortunately for fans, Cooper admitted in November 2021 that he was acting during the performance—pretending like he was portraying his doomed rock star persona Jackson Maine because he was so nervous about singing live IRL. “Just from a personal standpoint, it reduces the anxiety level,” Cooper told The Hollywood Reporter. “They kind of fall in love in that scene in the film. It’s that explosive moment that happens to happen 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.”
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