Lady Gaga's Ex-Fiancé Told The World What He Thought Of A Star Is Born

From a very young age, Lady Gaga seemed destined for stardom. Born Stefani Germanotta in 1986, she grew up in New York City. And then in 2008, at the age of just 22, she appeared on the music industry's radar. Her debut album, The Fame, crushed the charts with songs such as "Poker Face" and "Just Dance." Lady Gaga arrived, and it was clear she was here to stay. And when her next album dropped, she met the first celeb love of her life: Taylor Kinney.

One of the hit singles off her second album, Born This Way, was "Yoü and I," and it was during the filming of the music video she fell for Kinney. Although things didn't necessarily get off to the best of starts. "I remember I went up and I kissed her, and she didn't expect it, and they cut and she slapped me," Kinney told Andy Cohen in a 2015 edition of Watch What Happens Live. "It was just awkward. And the next take I just did it again." Luckily, Gaga didn't seem to mind.

When Gaga appeared on Ellen, she said she was down to clown with Kinney. "I've got these pins sticking out of my head and I'm wearing cork and I've got no hair and I'm bald," she said of her look in the music video. "We were in the middle of this scene and I remember that he kissed me and it wasn't scripted for him to kiss me. I was sort of like, 'Uh, you know, was that real or was that fake?' And he just didn't really say anything, and that was fine by me and we just kept filming."

Gaga may or may not have known at the time that Kinney already had a decent resume under his belt at the time. His roles included a recurring part in The Vampire Diaries and appearances in hit movies such as Zero Dark Thirty and The Other Woman. But most Kinney fans knew him as Lieutenant Kelly Severide in the hugely popular show Chicago Fire — as well as the two spin-off shows Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. Gaga must have loved that firefighter's uniform on him because they began a serious relationship soon after meeting.

In September 2011, just a month after the debut of the "Yoü and I" music video, People reported that Gaga and Kinney had started "hooking up." The magazine said it had spoken to "a source close to Gaga" who revealed that the soon-to-be couple was "hanging out" in Mission Viejo, California, during the Labor Day holiday. There was no official word from the pair at that time — but it didn't take long for the press to capture their first image of Gaga and Kinney together. Then the secret was out.

But we should have known early on that Kinney was never going to be open about his thoughts and feelings about Gaga. He appeared on Today in 2012 — just a year into their relationship — and hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford couldn't get more than a few words out of him. "I don't have that outside view [of Gaga as a megastar," he said. "For whatever reason, it works. I'm a lucky guy." Gaga was a bit more open, though.

The pop star revealed on Ellen, for instance, that the seemingly straight-laced Kinney was not so "normal" when he was at home. "He's a hidden weirdo," she said. "He is extremely strange, actually, and we complement each other's weirdness." She added, "At the end of the day he's my best friend, and having your lover be your best friend, I mean, it's the best thing ever. It's the best thing I can say about it."

The couple had been dating for a couple of years when Gaga discussed wedding plans — or the lack thereof — with Howard Stern in 2013. "I am the center of attention in my job every single day, the thought of a wedding to me is exhausting," she said. "Here's my dream wedding: David's Bridal, grooms go on the men's side, girls go on the female side. We get completely hammered, we get the worst dresses we can find and then we go to the courthouse."

Gaga also spoke to ABC News about any potential wedding plans before they'd even got engaged. "If I get married, I'm gonna be like hanging out of a pickup truck in a David's Bridal while my stylist is screaming at me, trying to put a blonde wig on my head!" she explained. Then, in 2015, Kinney proposed to Gaga with a gorgeous heart-shaped ring the singer proudly later displayed on her Instagram page. She captioned it "Love is love is love is." It seemed the two were destined for each other.

After the engagement, Gaga was typically open about the whole proposal with Access Hollywood. "First he gave me a Ring Pop. That was kind of amazing and I was crying, I was so excited," she said. "I said, "Yes!" right away and then he pulled out the heart-shaped diamond. First it was candy. I was happy with the candy." It was the logical next step, as Gaga had already said, "He is the right guy. I have that feeling. I just know it."

Arguably the peak of their power-couple status came when they appeared on the cover of V magazine. The image captured the pair without any clothes, drenched in paint, posing on top of a canvas they'd previously made love on. It would seem weird if it was any other celebrity than Lady Gaga! The whole thing was for a good cause, of course — raising awareness for Gaga's Born This Foundation. Unfortunately, though, things never got better for the couple.

How could a romance between a successful television star and a superstar singer be anything but amazing? Well, high-profile relationships are fickle beasts, and Gaga learned about it the hard way in the one year after Kinney proposed. The rough patches in Gaga and Kinney's relationship started to occur after Gaga decided to film a Netflix documentary called Five Foot Two. And because the issues were happening while the movie was being shot, she could discuss it all on camera.

The documentary gave fans an inside look at the intense preparation the singer went through while working on a new album. It also highlighted the demanding behind-the-scenes work of figuring out a Super Bowl halftime show. But, it was really the drama with Kinney that had fans on the edge of their seats. And in the very first scene of the documentary, Gaga’s relationship with Kinney is put under the microscope. “Me and Taylor are fighting, so that sucks,” she says while in her kitchen.

The film also depicts a moment obviously filmed after the couple's July 2016 split where Gaga starts to sob. "My love life has just imploded," she says. "I sold 10 million [records] and lost Matt [Williams]. I sold 30 million and lost Lüc [Carl]. I did a movie and lose Taylor. It's like a turnover. This is the third time I've had my heart broken like this." There was the moment when Kinney sent her flowers before a big show. "Nothing like flowers from your ex-fiancé on the day of the Super Bowl," Gaga jokes.

But when Gaga officially confirmed the breakup on Instagram, she insisted there were no hard feelings between the pair. "Taylor and I have always believed we are soulmates," she wrote. "Just like all couples we have ups and downs, and we have been taking a break. We are both ambitious artists, hoping to work through long-distance and complicated schedules to continue the simple love we have always shared. Please root us on. We're just like everybody else and we really love each other." Yet things were further confused when Gaga released the song "Perfect Illusion."

The single contained the lyrics, "It wasn't love, it wasn't love / It was a perfect illusion" — so people naturally assumed it was about Kinney. But told Gaga Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that wasn't the case. "I love Taylor so, so much, and this song is not a hit out against Taylor," she said. "He's my best friend. This song is just about, I'm sure, not only the feelings I've had, that he's had, that my friends have had... It's a record about all of us." That didn't stop people from speculating, though.

Howard Stern brought the song up when Gaga appeared on his show again in October 2016. "We love each other, that's it," Gaga said. "It's just about life changes, and we all go through different stages and we're focused on different things." She added, "To be fair, I think that Taylor's pretty cool that over the years no matter what creative transformation that I've gone through, he's always been very supportive of that and loving." She had more nice things to say about him, too.

"I'm actually very close to Taylor,” Gaga told Howard Stern. "He's been my lover and my friend for a really long time. He's been so supportive of the album, and I support him on his show, Chicago Fire." So, if this was the case, why exactly did they split to begin with? Neither of them has given a straight answer, but in an interview Gaga gave to CBS Sunday Morning, she implied her exploding career may have been one of the root causes of her love life "imploding."

"I think women love very hard," she said. "We love men. We just love with everything we have. And sometimes I don't know that that love is met with the type of dignity that we wish it would be met with. You know, we're not trying to make you less of a man We just want you to love us as deeply and as wholesomely and as fully as we love you." Gaga also lamented that her fame means she's "not free" when she goes out in public.

But fans were most intrigued by Gaga's comment in her documentary that she "did a movie and [lost] Taylor." The movie she was referring to, of course, was A Star is Born. Actor Bradley Cooper directed the film, which was a remake of a few versions of the story from the past. Gaga landed herself the role of a struggling singer name Ally Campana-Mained who falls for Bradley Cooper's character. It was Gaga's biggest acting role by far — and it would cause all kinds of rumors.

The movie was a smash hit, making more than $436 million at the box office. Movie critics all hailed Gaga's performance, too, and she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She actually took home an Oscar for writing the song "Shallow" for the film. But some people were more interested in the fact that the chemistry between her and Bradley Cooper was so realistic. Fans wondered if the two developed actual feelings on set — and how Taylor Kinney felt about the film and the rumors.

But when E! News asked Kinney whether he was going to watch A Star is Born, he replied, "I don't know, man." He seemed uncomfortable with the question — or possibly annoyed considering he'd broken up with Gaga two years beforehand. But his Chicago Fire co-star Miranda Rae Mayo stepped in and fielded the question gracefully. She said she'd see the film for him and then fill him in on all the tidbits. But it seems that the press wouldn't stop asking him about his ex.

Kinney remained polite through the publicity trail — but he was never drawn on whether he would watch the film. Instead, he stuck with generic platitudes such as, "I could only wish her the best. I am really proud." The most he ever said about it was to Us Weekly: "I know what went into it, it's been a long time coming... It's been years... to see what people go through to be in that, you can kind of let the masses make decisions." But still, he admitted that he hadn't gotten around to actually watching the movie.

He told the magazine he "couldn't be more proud" of Gaga. Kinney said, "I know in my heart it's gonna be great. And I know that she gave her all." The actor also had some nice words to say about Bradley Cooper — saying Gaga was "in good hands" with him. "I know it's his directorial debut, and I wish all of them the best," he said. "I hope it really does really well." But developments in 2019 started the rumor mill running all over again.

Days before the 2019 Oscars, Lady Gaga split up with talent agent Christian Carino — who was her fiancé at the time. And we all remember what happened on that particular Oscar night, don't we? Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga gave the most scintillating performance of their song, "Shallow," and sent the internet into a mini-meltdown. Then, just a few short months later, Cooper split up with his partner Irina Shayk. So were the rumors true? Were Gaga and Cooper more than just friends?

It was the question on everybody's lips, and journalists peppered the pair with constant questions about the rumors swirling on the internet. Lady Gaga answered the question on Jimmy Kimmel Live, following an eye roll: "Social media, quite frankly, is the toilet of the internet and what it's done to pop culture is abysmal. People saw love and, guess what, that's what we wanted you to see. This is a love song." She joked, "I'm an artist, and I guess we did a good job. Fooled ya!"

Among all the publicity around Gaga and Cooper, Taylor Kinney managed to get himself caught in a storm, too. In February 2019, right around the time of the Oscar performance, Kinney posted an Instagram photo of himself with ex-NHL player Bryan Bickell. He wrote, "Stoked to be out with my guy and his wife for the weekend." This was innocent enough — but then a fan left a message about Kinney's superstar ex in the comment section.

"Stoked you got away from Gaga," the commenter wrote, alongside the hashtag #Hollyweird. That might seem par for the course for social media — but what really caught people's attention was that Kinney "liked" the comment. Gaga's, shall we say, passionate fans didn't like this and began writing nasty comments of their own. One person replied, "So u tryna shade gaga now," while another said they were "glad Gaga got away from" him. It got so bad that it made headlines in the press and Kinney had to intervene.

Instead of issuing a comment through the press, Kinney left a comment underneath the comment he had initially "liked." He wrote, "Sorry for the 'like.' It was an accident. I'm only proud and happy for Stef." And that appeared to be the end of the story. Or at least, it appeared to be the end of the story as far as Gaga and Kinney are concerned. After all, Gaga brought Kinney up to a crowd in 2020 and seemed to bear no ill will.

In November 2020 Lady Gaga appeared at a rally for Joe Biden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "Did you all know I used to live here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania? Listen, anybody here from Lancaster?" Gaga said to the crowd during a performance that included both "Shallow" and "Yoü and I." "Well, I was engaged to a man from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I know, I know. It didn't work out. I loved him so much. It just did not work out."

Gaga continued, "But I still love my Pennsylvania guy. I love Joe [Biden]! So Joe's my new Pennsylvania guy." She then continued her performance — before seeming to remember that her current boyfriend, Michael Polansky, was actually at the event. "To my boyfriend that's here tonight," she said, "I'm so sorry I had to do the whole 'Pennsylvania, and I dated a guy here' thing. I love you so much, but it's true." Polansky and Gaga are still going strong today, too.

The couple met in 2016 but didn't start dating until three years later. Gaga made them "Instagram official" in 2021, and they've been spotted at various events together down the years. Polansky is perhaps not your usual candidate for a showbiz power couple. A Harvard graduate, he is the CEO of The Parker Group and runs the Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. There has been speculation of a breakup, but the pair seem to be wisely keeping their relationship out of the public eye.

As for Kinney, he has been typically private about his relationships since breaking up with Lady Gaga. But in 2021 he revealed that his new girlfriend was the model and actress Ashley Cruger. The actor shared pictures of her on his Instagram — but still kept fans waiting a few months before making a public appearance together. Yet the biggest news involving Kinney more recently was not to do with his private life — it was about his role in Chicago Fire.

In January 2023, it was revealed in Deadline that Kinney would be "taking a leave of absence to deal with a personal matter." There was no other news than that — except that Kinney didn't make an appearance in Chicago Fire for the rest of the season. Instead, Jesse Spencer stepped in to fill the hole left by Kinney's character. In real life, too, Kinney's Instagram went quiet, leaving fans simply to wish him all the best.