How Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky’s Romance Was Born
When Lady Gaga’s mom was first introduced to Michael Polansky, she didn’t exactly keep a poker face.
Because Cynthia Germanotta just had a hunch that the investor and her daughter would have anything but a bad romance.
“My mom met him and she said to me, ‘I think I just met your husband,’” Gaga—a.k.a. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta—recalled in a cover story for Vogue released Sept. 5, “and I said, ‘I’m not ready to meet my husband!’ I could never have imagined that my mom…found the most perfect person for me?”
When the two finally crossed paths in 2019 at a birthday party for Napster cofounder Sean Parker (Polansky and the Napster cofounder have worked together with several organizations) the Grammy winner confirmed the potential connection her mom saw wasn’t just a perfect illusion.
“I got invited and I said, 'I wonder if Michael is going to be there,’” she continued, “and my mom said yes, and so I went to the party and I kept asking for him and he finally came over to me and we talked for three hours. We had the most amazing conversation.”
So, what it’s like to be sought out by Gaga at a party? While it may be hard to envision ‘til it happens to you, Polansky offered some insight.
“I didn’t know much about her and honestly wasn’t sure what to expect,” he added to the magazine. “I was struck immediately by her warmth and openness—she was so genuinely curious about what my life was like growing up in Minnesota.”
As the musician recalled to Vogue, she and Polansky spoke on the phone for weeks before they had their first date “and just fell in love.” Soon enough, the papa-paparazzi photographed them kissing in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve. And in February 2020—days after Gaga and Polanksy were spotted smooching in Miami—she made their relationship Instagram official.
But just when it seemed like they were on the edge of glory with their romance, the coronavirus pandemic hit. As a result, Gaga told Vogue, Polanksy moved into her Malibu home for more than a year.
“We had this amazing chapter of a weird kind of normalcy,” the venture capitalist added to the publication, “that’s essential for any relationship to develop in a real way—taking walks, making coffee, hanging out with the dogs, reading books together.”
While Gaga probably could come up with a million reasons to keep her romance with Polansky private, she’s given glimpses into their life together—such as by sharing pictures from their time in quarantine, calling him the “love of my life” in an MSNBC interview, and celebrating her song “Stupid Love”—a track about finding the one and being vulnerable—with a post that read, “I’ve got a STUPID love.”
They’ve also made several public outings together over the past few years, including at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 (where Gaga sang the national anthem) and at Katy Perry’s and U2’s Las Vegas concerts in 2023.
Still, that doesn’t mean the “Just Dance” artist is just going to divulge every detail about her life and work.
“I may not be sharing as much of myself online as I have in the past,” she wrote in part of a 2023 Instagram post to her fans, “but I hope you know this time to myself has been extremely healing and recharging for my heart, mind, body, and creativity—to create within myself and to have a personal life that’s just for me. I’m sure that may feel different because I haven’t always been so private (I bet that will make some of you laugh)—but I LOVE my fans, my little monsters, so much and that will never change.”
Clearly, Gaga and Polansky were far from the shallow in terms of the depth of their relationship. However, the A Star Is Born actress and the Outer Biosciences CEO dove in even deeper by getting engaged on a rock-climbing excursion shortly after her birthday this past March.
“We climbed up to the top, and we looked around, and we took so photos,” she revealed on the Oct. 1 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “And then we went back down and we were just walking back to the room and talking. He actually—it was very Michael to ask me if he could ask me. He wanted to know if it was OK to propose before he proposed. And I was like, 'Yes! It’s so OK.'"
Not long after, fans noticed Gaga was wearing a diamond ring on that finger. Still, the engagement news wouldn’t be confirmed until she was heard calling Polansky her fiancé during a conversation with France's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at the 2024 Olympics, where she performed during the Opening Ceremony.
As for what the future bride and groom have planned for their wedding?
“We actually talk a lot of about just going to a courthouse just the two of us and ordering Chinese food,” she continued to Jimmy Kimmel. “But knowing me, also it could become a circus with unicorns.”
While fans will have to wait for an official Save the Date, the “Telephone” artist has been k-kinda busy—OK, more like really busy. In addition to promoting her new movie Joker: Folie à Deux and its corresponding album Harlequin (for which Polansky served as a producer), Gaga has been continuing to run her beauty empire Haus Labs and teased to Vogue she’s working on a pop record. And the couple has proven they support each other in their work.
“Michael is so brilliant in the way that he works,” Gaga told E! News at the Los Angeles premiere of Joker Sept. 30. “And he never ceases to amaze me. I’ve watched him in so many facets of business, in science and biotech, in philanthropy, and like somehow he’s also magic with music.”
She added, “We have this amazing creative bond, and making Harlequin with him was just completely special in every way.”
So as Gaga—who was previously engaged to Taylor Kinney and Christian Carino—continues to dance, dance, dance through her new chapter, she’s thrilled to have Polansky by her side.
“I kind of thought I was going to have to do this all by myself—forever,” the “Blood Mary” singer told Vogue. “And that was really scary. Because it’s a big life. And I don’t think anyone really knows what it feels like unless you’re in it.” However, she told the mag, "I don’t have to do this alone anymore.”
As you give Gaga and Polansky a round of applause, keep reading to look back at their road to engagement.
Following her 2019 split from boyfriend Christian Carino, Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky were spotted sharing a kiss on New Year's Day in January 2020.
Gaga made her new romance social media official in February 2020, sharing a photo of her sitting on Michael's lap at the Super Bowl on Instagram with the caption, "We had so much fun in Miami. Love to all my little monsters and fans, you're the best!"
Despite keeping a low profile since the start of their relationship, Gaga has let her love for Michael, an entrepreneur and former CEO of the San Francisco-based Parker Group, shine through over the years, sharing a photo of the two in March 2020 with the caption, "I've got a STUPID love."
The Oscar winner also called Michael "the love of my life" during an April 2020 interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe.
And in March 2021, he surprised her with a massive flower arrangement for her 35th birthday, prompting Gaga to share on Instagram, "I love you honey. I can't wait to be home with you and our dogs, that's all I need."
Also in 2021, following the February attack on her French bulldogs and dog walker Ryan Fischer, the "Born This Way" singer made a rare comment about her and Michael's life together, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "My dogs and the man that I love are my whole life."
Rumors of an engagement between Lady Gaga and Michael first started swirling in April 2024 when Gaga stepped out wearing a massive diamond ring on that finger. But at the time, the duo were keeping tight-lipped on the rumors.
Days after Gaga kicked off the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, performing Zizi Jeanmaire's "Mon Truc En Plumes" at the opening ceremonies, she finally confirmed the engagement, introducing him as her "fiancé" during a conversation with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal July 28.
The two made their red carpet debut as a couple at the premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 4, 2024.
Michael joined Gaga at the premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux in London later in September 2024.
The singer said on the Graham Norton Show that the two had actually gotten engaged on April Fools' Day.
"Actually, I thought he was joking and he was not," Gaga said. "But it was really nice."
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