Lady Gaga Describes Her Oscars Performance with Bradley Cooper: “People Saw Love, and That’s What We Wanted You to See”

Lady Gaga wants everyone to know that she and Bradley Cooper are definitely not in love. On Wednesday night, Lady Gaga visited Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she discussed her moving performance with Bradley Cooper at the Oscars. Despite the rumors and fan theories that she and Cooper are doin’ it, Lady Gaga told Jimmy Kimmel that she and her A Star Is Born co-star were just acting. According to Gaga, “people saw love,” which is exactly what the audience was supposed to do. “When you’re singing love songs, that’s what you want people to feel,” said Lady Gaga on Kimmel.

“You had such a connection with Bradley that, instantly — and I guess this is a compliment — people started saying, ‘Oh, they must be in love,'” Jimmy Kimmel said about the moving performance of “Shallow.” Lady Gaga immediately rolled her eyes and began to set the record straight. “First of all, social media, quite frankly, is the toilet of the internet. And what it has done to pop culture is abysmal,” said the Oscar winner. “And people saw love, and guess what? That’s what we wanted you see.”

Lady Gaga explained that “Shallow” is a “love song,” and A Star Is Born is “a love story.” While she said she never “relinquish[es] control about a live stage performance,” she allowed Cooper to do his thing for their Oscars performance, as he directed “the musical moments in the film, and ‘Shallow,’ the moment, in the film.” Continued Gaga, “So I knew that he had the vision for how it should go, and so I was like, ‘What do you think Bradley?’ And he laid it all out.”

Direction aside, acting is acting. “From a performance perspective, it was so important to both of us that we were connected the entire time,” Lady Gaga told Kimmel. “Look, I’ve had my arms wrapped around Tony Bennett for three years touring the world. When you’re singing love songs, that’s what you want people to feel.” She noted that she’s not having an affair with Bennett, either, before adding, “I’m an artist, and I guess we did a good job. Fooled ya.”

Watch Gaga’s Jimmy Kimmel interview above.

Watch Jimmy Kimmel Live on Hulu