Candid unseen photo reveals truth about Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

The internet is aflame with theories about Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s steamy Oscars performance. Here’s what really happened.

It was the 2019 Oscars moment that set tongues wagging — had Lady Gaga and her A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper’s on-screen romance spilt over into real life?

The pair took to the stage for one of the most anticipated moments in yesterday’s ceremony, performing their hit duet Shallowfor only the second time in public.

Even devoted fans of the film were stunned by the pair’s undeniable sexual chemistry: Gaga gazed at her co-star adoringly as he opened the song, before he joined her behind the piano, embracing her as they sang in unison.

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As the song finished, the camera closed in tight on Gaga and Cooper’s faces, the pair lingering just millimetres from each other and looking like they’d kiss any second:

Wow, what a moment. Picture: Getty

OK now do Hair Body Face! Picture: Channel 9

Viewer reaction was instant and twofold. First: Wild, thirsty speculation about Gaga and Cooper:

I seriously thought Bradley Cooper and Gaga were going to start making out #Oscars

— Shupette (@Shupette) February 25, 2019

I wish anyone would look at me the way Bradley does at Gaga. Hot damn. #oscarsfromfiji

— Lucy Hale (@lucyhale) February 25, 2019

Lady Gaga almost risked it all for Bradley Cooper at The #Oscars pic.twitter.com/sW23JLLZXJ

— 🌹 (@fabulousfeed) February 25, 2019

break up with your girlfriend bradley, gaga is bored pic.twitter.com/y8TAVQRdcj

— oscar winner (@poxaandy) February 25, 2019

did bradley cooper just rememered that he has a girlfriend?! it really looked like he wanted to kiss lady gaga #oscars⁠ ⁠

— mia saw la la land 11x times (@justmiaslife) February 25, 2019

Second: Unsolicited pity for Cooper’s real-life partner Irina Shayk, sat in the front row and watching the steamy performance unfold.

bradley cooper’s wife watching the shallow performance #oscars pic.twitter.com/pB0dgLPgPV

— alice (@chadwckbose) February 25, 2019

Bradley Coopers girlfriend watching on like..... #oscars pic.twitter.com/zCWhOoTvva

— Carter Dorzinski (@ThaCarterD) February 25, 2019

Sucks to be Bradley Cooper’s girlfriend right now. Christ pic.twitter.com/aeGc3Pd5lM

— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) February 25, 2019

Bradley Cooper’s girlfriend sitting front row like #Oscars pic.twitter.com/FoGQpQ7mMj

— BBJ 🍑 (@aaranhaj) February 25, 2019

Live look at Bradley Cooper’s girlfriend rn #Oscars pic.twitter.com/QWCrpgncRO

— BT (@BarryTrilla) February 25, 2019

Spice Girl Melanie B even ludicrously accused Gaga of breaking “women’s code” with the performance, which she found “uncomfortable” to watch.

“See, I felt so uncomfortable for Bradley’s girlfriend, oh my gosh,” she said during a British TV appearance today.

But candid unseen photos form inside the Dolby Theatre show that perhaps we should all cool it with our Gaga/Cooper erotic fan fiction.

Here’s Cooper giving Shayk a big kiss as he and Gaga return to their seats following the performance:

Bradley rushes straight back to Irina. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFP

And Gaga giving Shayk a kiss on the cheek:

Alexa, play ‘The Boy Is Mine.’ Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

And finally, Gaga and Shayk warmly embracing:

See? Friends. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFP

Hardly the salacious love triangle the internet is frothing over. It makes sense that Gaga and Cooper would pour every last bit of energy into the performance — the Oscars were the final victory lap for A Star Is Born, a film that pundits speculated before release could be Gaga’s own Glitter but ended up a critically acclaimed, near-half-billion-dollar worldwide box office hit.

Speaking to news.com.au’s Andrew Bucklow after winning the Oscar for Best Original Song yesterday, Gaga explained that she and Cooper had given her one Marie Kondo-esque direction for the performance.

“What Bradley said to me yesterday right before we did our last rehearsal for this performance of Shallow … He said, ‘Let’s just drop a little bit of joy.’ And I said, ‘OK’.”

Mission accomplished.