What All Of Lady Gaga's Exes Have Said About Her
The lyrics to Lady Gaga's 2008 hit single "LoveGame" might be some of the most prophetic of her career, as she sang, "Let's play a lovegame, play a lovegame. Do you want love or you want fame?" It's a question the singer would find herself asking repeatedly over the ensuing years of pop superstardom, finding herself in a string of relationships that just seemed to keep failing the more famous she became.
These days, Lady Gaga seems to be happily coupled up with Michael Polansky, a finance guy who works for Sean Parker's philanthropic organization, The Parker Foundation. On Instagram during quarantine, they even adorably celebrated the release of her album "Chromatica" together with a dance party in their kitchen. In 2021, sources even told E! News that Mother Monster wants to have kids with Polansky someday.
Over the years, though, the pop star has certainly had her fair share of "Bad Romance" — and maybe even a few relationships she would consider "Stupid Love." Read on for a look back at her highest-profile partners, including what all of Lady Gaga's exes have said about her.
Matthew 'Dada' Williams
In the early days of Lady Gaga's ascent, her creative collective The Haus of Gaga was run by a man who went by Dada. His full name was Matthew Williams, and he was behind many of the singer's most iconic early-career moments. He helped execute the bleeding outfit she wore during her performance of "Paparazzi" at the VMAs, and he was also responsible for developing the infamous meat dress she wore the following year. For a time, they were more than just creative partners; they were also lovers. However, Gaga told the Evening Standard that she didn't want their romance to get in the way of their work. "Dada is quite brilliant and we were crazy lovers, but I stopped it when we discovered what a strong creative connection we had," she said. "I didn't want it just to be about careless love."
Looking back on their relationship, Williams too focuses on their collaborative creative process rather than their romantic chemistry. In an essay for Grailed about some of their most iconic fashion moments, Williams wrote, "Working with Gaga was inherently collaborative. It was really us just trying stuff out ... We would basically make pieces for shoots and for performances because fashion brands wouldn't lend us cool stuff."
Williams has moved up in the fashion world since collaborating with the "LoveGame" singer. He now runs Givenchy Couture, and he told The Telegraph, "It feels amazing when you go for your dream and then it actually comes true."
Lüc Carl
Little Monsters know that before Lady Gaga achieved "The Fame," she was a New York City girl performing in dive bars. One such bar was run by Lüc Carl, a punk rocker with shaggy black hair and a love of leather jackets. They dated on and off for years, including after Gaga was a worldwide superstar. Her album "Born This Way" was even dedicated to him. The booklet included the phrase, "This album is for Ü" (note the umlaut, which Carl uses to stylize his first name). Her hit single "Yoü & I" is about him, too. Carl owned a bar and is from Nebraska, so when she sings, "Something about my cool Nebraska guy," it's likely in reference to him.
As Gaga later noted in her documentary "Gaga: Five Foot Two," the relationship petered out when she reached stratospheric fame. Carl seemed to agree with that assessment, telling BlackBook, "I'm not the type of guy who can sit on someone else's yacht sipping champagne." Still, it seems there were no hard feelings. He added, "She's an amazing woman and I wish her all the best in the world. Although I think we all know she already has it."
After their breakup, Carl went on to host a show on Sirius XM. He gained weight after the split, and subsequently wrote a tongue-in-cheek health and fitness book afterward called, "The Drunk Diet." "Sometimes things don't work out," he mused to The New York Times. "I was madly in love for a long time."
Taylor Kinney
Lady Gaga and "Chicago Fire" star Taylor Kinney met while filming her music video for "Yoü and I," which is ironic considering the song was about her ex, Lüc Carl. In the video, Gaga plays a mermaid in a bathtub, while Kinney is the hunk caring for her. "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," Gaga explained on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "... He just didn't really say anything, and that was fine by me and we just kept filming." Ah, love!
They were very public with the details of their five-year relationship — including using a naked, post-coital selfie for the cover of V Magazine after the pair had apparently had sex on a freshly painted canvas. They were also engaged for a year before breaking up. In her documentary, "Gaga: Five Foot Two" (via People), the pint-sized pop star discussed the then-recent split, stating, "My love life has just imploded." She pinned the end of their engagement on having been tapped to lead "A Star Is Born," noting that her relationships often failed as she moved into new stages of her career.
It seems that the two ended things on decent terms. Kinney attended one of her concerts after they were broken up. And when "A Star is Born" was finally released, he had nothing but glowing things to say to E! News. "I could only wish her the best," he said. "I'm really proud."
Christian Carino
Shortly after they were spotted canoodling together before her Super Bowl halftime performance in 2017, Us Weekly confirmed that Lady Gaga was dating her talent agent, Christian Carino. The couple got engaged later that year, though it wasn't until late 2018 that Gaga herself would confirm the engagement during her Elle Women in Hollywood acceptance speech.
However, a few months later, things were off. Sources talked about the breakup with Us Weekly, telling the outlet, "He was jealous. He was trying to find her all the time and texted her a lot. Her friends didn't like him either." Before a performance of "Someone to Watch Over Me" in Vegas (per Us Weekly), Gaga referenced calling off the engagement, noting, "Last time I sang this song, I had a ring on my finger, so it'll be different this time."
A year later, she released her album "Chromatica," and fans speculated that certain lyrics on the sad bop, "Fun Tonight" might be about her ex. "You love the paparazzi, love the fame, even though you know it causes me pain," she sang. "... When I'm sad, you just wanna play. I've had enough, why do I stay?"
Carino hasn't commented on his own breakup, but he made headlines for talking about someone else's relationship when he was called as a witness in Johnny Depp's defamation trial against Amber Heard. Carino had represented Depp in 2016 and gave testimony concerning Heard's relationship with Twitter owner Elon Musk.
Dan Horton
In the summer of 2019, fans and photographers noticed Lady Gaga on what appeared to be a lunch date in Studio City, CA. People spoke with witnesses who described the twosome as looking intimate while they ate, including one source who claimed, "They were kissing as they spoke really close up." The outlet identified her companion as Dan Horton, an audio engineer whose LinkedIn page described him as Gaga's monitor mixer since November 2018.
Sources who spoke with E! News claimed that the new couple went public to distract from rumors that the Oscar winner was hooking up with Bradley Cooper, her "A Star is Born" director and co-star. The insider said of Horton, "He is handsome and talented and she likes to date men on her team ... she is known as a workaholic, so it fits her lifestyle to meet someone while working."
The new romance fizzled out a few months later, with sources telling Us Weekly that Gaga considered him too immature. His LinkedIn claims that he continued to work for her for a few months longer after the end of their relationship, which might be a sign that things ended on relatively good terms. However, we can't be certain, as neither has spoken about the other publicly.