At long last, Lady Gaga is an Oscar winner. As fans everywhere had hoped, the A Star Is Born powerhouse won Best Original Song for her now-iconic “Shallow.” The momentous Oscar occasion was just as emotional as anyone who has watched Gaga’s ascendant awards show run would have guessed.
“Thank you so much to the Academy for this wonderful honor,” Gaga said between gasps for breath, before thanking her co-writers Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt (Ronson would later thank Gaga herself for being so talented). Gaga then thanked her parents Cynthia and Joseph Germanotta and “soul mate” sister Natali Germanotta. But, as has been the trend this awards season, Gaga’s director-co-star Bradley Cooper received her most glowing praise.
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“There is not a single person on the planet that could have sang this song with me but you,” the Best Actress nominee gushed mere minutes after performing “Shallow” with Cooper to Twitter-breaking results. “Thank you for believing in us, thank you so much.”
While that portion of Gaga’s speech was sweet, it was the second half of her onstage moment that will likely go down in history. The singer has long publicized her greatest fears, anxieties, and challenges since stepping into the spotlight a decade ago, and took her time on stage to inspire anyone at home struggling. “If you are you’re sitting on your couch, and you are watching this right now, all I have to say is that his is hard work,” Gaga, who lost the Original Song race during the 2016 Oscars, admitted in the midst of tears.
“I’ve worked hard for a long time. It’s not about winning. What it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it ... It’s not about how many times you get rejected or you fall down or you’re beaten up, it’s about how many times you stand up and are brave and you keep on going.”
It’s no wonder that when the camera panned from Gaga to the celebrities in the 2019 Oscars audience, Jennifer Hudson was also crying and nodding in passionate agreement.
Jennifer Hudson is all of us watching Gaga's speech #Oscars pic.twitter.com/xOum9JDwkf
— Lindsey Kupfer (@Lindseykupfer) February 25, 2019
Smiles. While silently planning to take out Gaga. Swiftly. #Oscar #oscar2019 pic.twitter.com/viFp4D4L8c
— Maria-Eugenia Gines (@miss_gines) February 25, 2019
It's official: 1 person in a room will never doubt Lady Gaga again, let alone 99.