An engagement is born.
The monsters are celebrating today as Lady Gaga finally confirmed she is engaged to her beau, Hollywood agent Christian Carino, nearly one year after first setting off engagement rumors.
The 32-year-old star, who is earning Oscar buzz for her turn in A Star Is Born, made the news official during her empowering speech at Elle's 25th Annual Women in Hollywood Celebration in Los Angeles on Monday. Gaga thanked "my fiancé Christian," which was a surprisingly public display of affection for the relatively low-key couple, who've managed to mostly keep their relationship private despite being one of the most famous people in the world.
E! News confirmed Gaga and Carino, whose helped a roster of superstar music clients including Justin Bieber, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez and Miley Cyrus, were dating in February 2017 after he accompanied her to the Super Bowl, and the two were spotted kissing on the field before her raved-about Pepsi Halftime Show performance.
Lady Gaga's romance with Carino is in stark contrast to the beginning of her relationship with ex-fiancee Taylor Kinney, as the two met when he starred in her "You and I" music video. Sparks flew immediately.
And Lady Gaga couldn't keep the smile off her of face when asked about her beau, the star of NBC's Chicago Fire, during a 2013 appearance on Ellen.
"Well, he's a hidden weirdo. He is extremely strange, actually, and we complement each other's weirdness," Gaga explained to Ellen DeGeneres, before going on to detail their first encounter on the set of the music video.
"That's actually one of the first things he ever said to me. It's a Dr. Seuss quote that you find in someone else a compatible weirdness. And it was one of the first things he's said to me," she revealed. "And you know, it's funny. The first time he met me it was one the set of the 'You & I' video," she explained. "So I've got these pins sticking out of my head and I'm wearing cork and I got no hair and I'm bald. And I mean, why he found me attractive just completely behooves me."
But he did, and he actually kissed her, which wasn't in the script.
"I was sort of like was, 'Um, you know, was that real or was that fake?" And he didn't really say anything and that was fine by me and we kept filming," she said. "And you know, 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."
Kinney also opened up about their first meeting and kiss when he appeared on Watch What Happens Live in 2015.
"I remember I went up, and we're rolling, and I kissed her and she didn't expect it," Kinney told Andy Cohen. "They cut, and she slapped me. And then it was just awkward. And then the next take, I just did it again and then she didn't slap me. She didn't slap me then.
"We had a good time. I think there was chemistry," the actor continued. "I remember it was a late shoot. We were shooting until 4 or 5 in the morning or something like that. We exchanged information. A few weeks went by and we kept in touch, and then that's that."
That's that indeed as the couple would go on to date for five years.
In 2014, Gaga told U.K. paper The Times, "He's the first man that I have dated that, when I sing onstage, he cries. That means more to me than anything." She would also visit him on the set of Chicago Fire, and told Howard Stern, "I really can't imagine being with anyone other than who I'm with right now. He is the right guy. I have that feeling. I just know it."
The couple got engaged on Valentine's Day in 2015, with Gaga announcing the news on her Instagram with a photo of the heart-shaped diamond ring Kinney proposed to her with.
But in July 2016, the engagement was called off. "They want to keep it private," an insider shared with E! News at the time. "It's heartbreaking."
In her intimate Netflix documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, an emotional Gaga opened up about her heartbreak as she prepared for her Super Bowl performance, one of the biggest performances of her impressive career.
"I'm so excited to do it, but I can't help but realize that when I sold 10 million records, I lost Matt [Williams, her ex-boyfriend]. I sold 30 million and lost Luc [Carl, another ex-boyfriend]. I did a movie and lose Taylor [Kinney, her ex-fiancé]," she said. "It's like a turnover. This is the third time I've had my heart broken like this."
Given her level of fame, dealing with the heartbreak in the public eye was hard for Gaga, which she opened up about in a sitdown interview with Beats 1 radio host Zane Lowe.
"It's hard enough when love isn't working out the way you want it to, and you've got to walk down the street and have somebody go, 'Are you OK?'"
In Five Foot Two, Gaga opened up about her new perspective on relationships in the doc's opening scene.
"My threshold for bulls--t with men is...I don't have one anymore," Mother Monster said. "I just don't care. Maybe cause I'm 30 and I feel better than ever, you know? All my insecurities are gone, I don't feel insecure about who am I as a woman. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed of what I have."
And it seems like her perspective on sharing the intimidate details of her personal life had slightly shifted as well.
After giving fans the whole cookie during her romance with Kinney, Gaga has gone on to offer just a few crumbs about her relationship with Carino.
During a concert in September 2017, Gaga used the "L-word" when talking about her CAA agent beau, who previously dated The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan.
"When I went backstage, Christian was by the stairs making sure I was OK," the songstress told the audience, as reported by Page Six. "The best part about being in love with someone is having them there to catch you if you fall."
And in October, she made their relationship official on social media, sharing a photo of the couple in front of a sunset on Snapchat and Instagram Stories. She also posted a photo of the couple, referring to him as "a very special someone" on her Instagram.
But aside from the occasional paparazzi shot, rare Instagram Story or a candid snap of PDA after her performance at the Grammys, their relationship has remained private. Carino's name isn't even mentioned in Gaga's last two major profiles in Vogue and Elle in support of A Star Is Born's release.
Now, 10 years after she first rose to fame with the release of her album The Fame, with a residency in Las Vegas, an awards campaign for A Star Is Born, a new album and now a wedding on the horizon, it feels like Mother Monster is just getting started.