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Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper looked very much in love at the Oscars — or they’re just great actors

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Irina Shayk must be a super understanding girlfriend, or she has a really good sense of humor.

That’s because people around the world were wondering what the beautiful Russian model was thinking as she watched her boyfriend Bradley Cooper on stage at the Academy Awards Sunday night, in front of a global audience, engage in intense eye contact with Lady Gaga, while the two belted out “Shallow,” their romantic ballad from “A Star is Born.”

As in their Oscar-nominated film, when Cooper and Gaga played star-crossed lovers Jackson and Ally, the two stars did a really good job of convincing audiences that they were artistic soulmates and that they were deeply in love.

“Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga acting like they’re the only people in the room for 3 minutes straight,” one person tweeted.

The chemistry between the two was especially undeniable when Cooper joined the pop icon-turned Oscar-nominated actress at the piano. The two sat close, wrapped their arms around each other and gazed into each other’s eyes, while their voices joined in the chorus, “In the sha-ha, sha-la-low…”

That moment became an instant pop-culture meme, and their performance received a double-sanding ovation.

The performance came about two hours into Sunday night’s telecast. But this moment also came after Cooper and Gaga endured a roller-coaster of a months-long awards season, which included constant rumors and speculation about the nature of their relationship.

Chatter about how much the two bonded, while bringing on-screen sexual heat to their roles, intensified again this past week after 32-year-old Gaga announced that she had ended her engagement to Christian Carino, a 49-year-old talent agent whom she had dated for about two years and who had been her date to the Golden Globes and other earlier awards shows.

Gaga reportedly was “gloomy” while on a six-day vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico over Valentine’s Day, a few days before her split from Carino was made public, People reported. 

“You could tell everything was not great with Gaga,” a source told People. “She seemed a bit gloomy and low energy.”

Gaga’s representative confirmed to the media last week that she and Carino had ended their engagement some time earlier. “It just didn’t work out,” the source said. “Relationships sometimes end. There’s no long dramatic story.”

The statement about there being “no dramatic story” may have been intended to mean that no third party — like a certain hunky co-star and director — came between Gaga and Carino.

Four months earlier, “A Star is Born” opened to rapturous acclaim and box-office success. There was lots of talk about it being a frontrunner to sweep all the major Academy Awards, including best picture and best actress for Gaga and best actor and director for Cooper.

But other films opened, and displaced “A Star is Born” for that front-runner status, while speculation about Cooper and Gaga’s relationship kept the film in the tabloid headlines and accompanied its Oscars conversation.

Lady Gaga, Irina Shayk and Bradley Cooper during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) 

“A Star is Born” fans, who have pulled for a “Jackson and Ally Forever” scenario, have liked fantasizing about Cooper and Gaga actually falling in love while making “A Star is Born.” In October, Page Six reported that Cooper was secretly “miserable” with Shayk, his girlfriend of four years and the mother of his young daughter.

The famously private Cooper and Shayk sought to dispel those reports by putting on a glamorous show together at awards ceremonies the past two months.

Cooper and Shayk looked pretty solid together on the red carpet at the Oscars Sunday night. They arrived at the ceremony with Cooper’s mother, Gloria Campano.

It’s probably noteworthy that Gaga sat next to Shayk, not Cooper, in their row at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Cooper sat on Shayk’s other side. Yes, it would have been too much for the world to see Cooper and Gaga sit together.

Still, fans on Twitter couldn’t help but express excitement at the sight of Gaga greeting Cooper as they took their seats before the ceremony started.

People also loved when Gaga expressly thanked Cooper after she won “A Star is Born’s” only Oscar Sunday, the award for best original song for co-writing “Shallow.”

“Bradley, there is not a single person on the planet that could’ve sung this song with me but you,” Gaga gushed. “Thank you for believing in us, thank you so much.”

02

Oscars Erases Line Between Film & TV With Series Actors Winning All Trophies

How is this for symbolism — Mahershala Ali won his second Oscar in three years for Green Book while the finale of his series True Detective was airing on HBO.

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For the first time ever, all four acting Oscar winners this year have current TV series, Bohemian Rhapsody‘s Rami Malek (USA’s Mr. Robot), The Favourite’s Olivia Colman (Netflix’s The Crown), Ali (True Detective) and Regina King (HBO’s upcoming Watchmen).

It is the strongest indication yet of the blurring lines between film and television and a culmination in the process of television — once considered film’s far less prestigious ugly stepsister — evening the playing field.

Just a few years ago, It was almost unheard of for an Oscar winner to do a TV series. In the current golden age of television and amidst a proliferation of premium/streaming networks, that is a regular occurrence now. For instance, HBO’s Big Little Lies’ upcoming third season features not one but three Oscar winners, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep. And Oscar winner Julia Roberts, who was chosen to present the biggest award tonight, Best Picture, is coming off a starring role in the Amazon series Homecoming.

There also has been traffic in the opposite direction, with TV actors getting to shine at the Oscars. Mom star Allison Janney earned her first Oscar nomination and first win last year for I, Tonya after 14 Emmy nominations and 7 wins. King, Malek and Colman were first-time Oscar nominees this year after strong Emmy runs. King has earned four consecutive nominations in the past four years, winning three times for American Crime and Seven Seconds, and Malek too is an Emmy winner for Mr. Robot, which is heading into its fourth and final season. Colman is a veteran TV actress, who received an Emmy nomination for The Night Manager, starred in Broadchurch and has taken on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, which landed her predecessor Claire Foy an Emmy.

Besides strong writing, what has been drawing movie stars to TV has been the top dollar deep-pocked streaming platform and premium networks can pay as well as the shorter TV seasons that have become the norm. That also allows TV actors to better juggle TV series and films and more chances at meaty movie roles.

HBO and USA Network took to Twitter tonight to congratulate their Oscar winners.

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Oscars: Olivia Colman Dedicates Best Actress Win for 'The Favourite' to Aspiring Young Actors

8:12 PM PST 2/24/2019 by Trilby Beresford

Olivia Colman won best actress for her role in The Favourite at the 2019 Oscars on Sunday evening.

At the podium, an emotional Colman said, "It's genuinely quite stressful, this is hilarious — an Oscar." She went on to thank the film's director, Yorgos Lanthimos, along with the castmembers. "To be in this category with these extraordinary women, Glenn Close, you are my idol, this is not how it was meant to be." (Close is the most-nominated living actress to never win an Oscar.)

"To my mom and my dad, well you know," said a teary Colman. She thanked her kids and husband, and then gave a special shout out to young actors who may be watching. "To any little girl who's practicing her speech on the tele, you never know!" Colman then revealed that she used to work as a cleaner. 

Backstage, Colman continued to be surprised by her award and admitted that "none" of her speech was prepared ahead of time. "I could not tell you what I'm feeling," she said. "Next year I'll be able to put it into words."

This is the first Oscar nomination and win for Colman. The actress beat out Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, Glenn Close for The Wife, Lady Gaga for A Star is Born and Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me?. 

Previously during awards season, Colman won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for the same role. 

The 2019 Oscars took place at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood and were televised live on the ABC Television Network.

Following Kevin Hart stepping down as host, the ceremony was presented hostless for the first time in 30 years. It included numerous musical performances, including a Queen opening number featuring Adam Lambert.