Inside Lady Gaga's love story: Who is Michael Polansky & details about their obscure proposal
Lady Gaga just revealed a few juicy details about how her obscure boyfriend, now-fiancé, Michael Polansky asked for her hand in marriage. Here are the details
Lady Gaga and fiancé Michael Polansky have been flooding social media feeds with their too-good-to-be-true whirlwind celebrity romance. The couple recently made their red carpet debut at the Venice International Film Festival while promoting her audacious film, Joker: Folie à Deux. In a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Lady Gaga shared how the entrepreneur proposed during a rock-climbing trip. “He proposed to me right after my birthday, so my birthday passed and I was like, ‘Well, I thought he was gonna propose…,” Gaga said, showing off her stunning diamond ring.
Michael waited until they finished climbing to pop the question. “We were just walking back to the room and talking. He actually — it was very Michael — asked 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!',” she continued. “He had the ring in his backpack, so it was so super cute,” she said, noting that he didn’t get down on one knee for the occasion. “But you know what? I’m a modern lady. I like what he did.”
When Jimmy asked about their wedding plans, Gaga admitted they’d considered a simple courthouse ceremony followed by Chinese food, but joked, “But knowing me, it could become like a circus with unicorns.” Gaga referred to Michael as “my fiancé” at the Paris 2024 Olympics — here's everything you need to know about him.
{{/usCountry}}When Jimmy asked about their wedding plans, Gaga admitted they’d considered a simple courthouse ceremony followed by Chinese food, but joked, “But knowing me, it could become like a circus with unicorns.” Gaga referred to Michael as “my fiancé” at the Paris 2024 Olympics — here's everything you need to know about him.
{{/usCountry}}Who is Michael Polansky?
Born in Minnesota, Michael is a Harvard graduate who studied applied mathematics and computer science, completing his degree in 2006. His father is an award-winning author Steven Polansky, and his mother Ellen Woods is a pharmaceutical expert; the pair are divorced. He and Lady Gaga went Instagram official in February 2020 when she shared a photo of them together on Instagram, captioning it, “We had so much fun in Miami. Love to all my little monsters and fans, you’re the best!”
For work, Michael acts as the executive director of the Parker Foundation which he co-founded in 2015 with Sean Parker who is known for his roles in creating Napster and Facebook. The foundation focuses on life sciences, global public health, civic engagement and the arts. Additionally, Michael serves on the board of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, supporting cancer research.
The trajectory of their relationship
According to Vogue, The couple through Gaga’s mother, Cynthia Germanotta, who runs the Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit focused primarily on supporting young people’s mental health that Gaga and her mother set up in 2012. Cynthia met Polansky through philanthropic overlap. “My mom met him and she said to me, ‘I think I just met your husband,’ 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?” she said.
aga followed the relationship reveal post with a Valentine's Day shout out, captioning it, “Happy Valentine’s Day!! Babe, do I have lipstick all-over me?”😂#valentines ❤️💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💕🧚♀️happy v-day to all my monsters!!! I love you!!! ❤️😘🎈.”
In February 2020, E! spoke to a source about how Gaga was feeling during the first months of her romance with Michael. The source said Gaga “has been dating the same guy for over a month. They’ve been seeing each other since before the holidays, and she’s crazy about him.” Their relationship only grew stronger after the onset of COVID. A source told Entertainment Tonight in March 2020 that “they both felt social distancing and quarantine was the right thing to do, and it’s given them time to spend together and focus on one another without work or any other distractions.”
Lindsay Crouse, senior staff editor at The New York Times and Michael's ex, wrote about the couple dating around the same time. Titling it, “My Ex-Boyfriend’s New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga,” the op-ed explored what it was like to see her longtime, now ex-boyfriend be photographed by Gaga's side in paparazzi shots. “Lady Gaga is amazing. Comparing yourself with her is incredibly motivational, and I recommend you try it, regardless of how you relate to who’s dating her,” Lindsay wrote.
In a spring 2020 InStyle interview, Gaga spoke about her dreams of having a family with her fiancé. She said, “I will say I am very excited to have kids. I look forward to being a mom. Isn’t it incredible what we can do? We can hold a human inside and grow it. Then it comes out, and it’s our job to keep it alive. It’s so funny—everyone works out of my house every day. When they come in, I always say, ‘Welcome to the Womb!’”
As Gaga dreams of starting a family, it’s evident that she sees a bright future with Michael and it’s clear to us, that this couple is meant to be.
