Bradley Cooper Told Lady Gaga to Bring "Joy" to Their Oscars 2019 Performance

September 2024 · 2 minute read

If you felt joy during Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's performance of "Shallow" from A Star Is Born at the Academy Awards yesterday, that was the actors' intention. After winning the Best Original Song Oscar, Gaga revealed her costar and director's words of wisdoms to her ahead of the set, which she also applied to an inspiring message to members of the LGBTQIA community.

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"One of the hardest things in life is to be brave enough to be yourself," Gaga said when asked if she had any comments for her fans attending the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia.

"I wish to everyone that is going to that celebration to feel a joy inside of them," the singer continued. "That's actually what Bradley [Cooper] said to me yesterday, right before we did our last rehearsal for this performance of 'Shallow': 'Let's just drop a little bit of joy.' And I said, 'Okay.' And it turns out, joy did a lot for me. So I'll tell you something, I hope that everyone there in Sydney feel so much joy and celebrates all sexual identities."

Gaga also voiced her dream for award ceremonies to be non-gendered in the future. "I also have a true dream in our future as we evolve as humanity, that these awards will be award shows will not be male and female, but that we include everyone," she said.

The singer accepted the award with her fellow songwriters when "Shallow" was honored as Best Original Song, marking Gaga's first-ever Oscar win. She made sure to thank Cooper in her emotional speech. "Bradley, there is not a single person on the planet that could have sung this song with me but you," she said. "Thank you for believing in us."

Watch their performance of "Shallow" below.

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Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now. 

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