Singer Lady Gaga, 40, and her fiancé Michael Polansky, 42, have secretly welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Rose Bean Polansky, via surrogate.
The baby arrived at 11:19pm on June 9 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. The announcement comes after months of low-profile nesting by Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, following the conclusion of her tour, The Mayhem Ball, in April. She was spotted only once in public last month in a social media photograph posted by a fan.
A source told the Daily Mail: "She has been in full nesting mode and has never been happier in her life because being a mother was a very large goal, even more than becoming a successful musician." The arrival of Rose Bean marks the first child for both Gaga and Polansky following five years together.
Legal battles with Rob Fusari
Before establishing her family with Polansky, Gaga experienced years of romantic turbulence. Her earliest public industry relationship was with record producer and songwriter Rob Fusari, whom she dated from 2006 until January 2007. Fusari met Gaga when she performed under her birth name and claimed to have helped her secure a record deal at age 23.
Their connection was detailed in Maureen Callahan's unofficial biography, Poker Face: The Rise And Rise Of Lady Gaga. The book revealed that Gaga became romantically involved with her manager while he was engaged and living with his fiancée. In 2009, Gaga stated that she signed her initial record deal with Fusari because he had threatened her.
In 2010, Fusari attempted to sue the singer for £20million, claiming he co-wrote her early hit songs and created her stage name. His lawyer Robert Meloni stated: "It's an age-old story in the music business. You become famous and you turn on the person who discovered you."
Fusari claimed he came up with the name Lady Gaga when predictive text on his phone changed "Radio Gaga", a reference to the Queen song, into "Lady Gaga". According to court filings, "Germanotta loved it and Lady Gaga was born." Fusari subsequently introduced her to an executive at Interscope Records, who released her debut album, The Fame.
Fusari sought a 20 per cent cut of song royalties and 15 per cent of merchandise sales under a 2006 contract with her labels, Team Love Child and Mermaid Music. Although he admitted receiving £403,000, he claimed that was not his full share. In court papers filed after their split, Fusari described her as "a woman scorned", writing: "When those personal relationships evolve into romantic entanglements, any corresponding business relationship usually follows the same trajectory so when one crashes they all burn." In November 2010, Fusari agreed to dismiss the lawsuits, though it remains unclear whether a financial settlement was made.
Turbulent years with Luc Carl
Gaga's longest early relationship was with bar owner Luc Carl, an on-off romance that spanned six years between 2005 and 2011. The couple first parted ways a few months after dating due to the pressure of her rising chart success. Carl later wrote an expose in his book The Drunk Diet, claiming he split from the singer because she had "shoved her fame down his throat".
They rekindled their romance in the summer of 2010. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine that year, Gaga confessed: "I've really never loved anyone like I loved him. Or like I love him. That relationship really shaped me."
However, the reunion prompted criticism from Carl's former girlfriend of a year, American actress Alex Stebbins, who accused Gaga of stealing him. Stebbins told Heat magazine that attempting to keep her boyfriend was "like fighting Jesus", adding: "She's the most powerful woman in the world, and there's no winning. She can literally have anything she wants and I had the one thing she couldn't have, and that made her want it even more."
Months later, Gaga was left devastated after discovering Carl was still seeing Stebbins following a trip to Texas. A source close to the star told Grazia magazine: "She's only just got back together with Luc and now she's frightened she's going to lose him again because she simply can't trust him. She's also upset because this seems to make her the 'other woman'."
Further details of their relationship emerged in the book Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives by long-time friend Brendan Jay Sullivan. Sullivan described Carl as "inattentive and possessive", writing: "The under-age girl looked a little lost. Even her own boyfriend didn't have time for her." He alleged Carl dictated who Gaga could speak to and where she could work while being "distracted by a small coterie of drunk girls." Gaga announced their official split on The Graham Norton Show in May 2011, telling the audience: "I don't have a boyfriend and I haven't been on any dates recently."
Romances with Speedy and Dada Williams
In 2009, Gaga enjoyed a public romance with entrepreneur Frank "Speedy" Lopera after meeting him on the set of her LoveGame music video. The pair split less than a year later. Gaga described her heartbreak: "Do you know the feeling of your heart being so terribly broken you can feel the blood dripping out? When you have felt this, only then you know how I'm doing." Speedy claimed he was the victim after a photograph of Gaga kissing another man was published while they were still dating.
Gaga also dated Matthew "Dada" Williams, creative director of Haus of Gaga, in 2009 after meeting at a sushi restaurant a year earlier. They ended their romantic relationship in 2010 to preserve their creative bond.
Speaking in Paul Lester's book Lady Gaga: Looking For Fame: The Life Of The Pop Princess, Gaga stated: "Dada is quite brilliant and we were crazy lovers, but I stopped it when we discovered what a strong creative connection we had. I didn't want it just to be about careless love."
Engagements to Taylor Kinney and Christian Carino
Gaga's first engagement was to actor Taylor Kinney, whom she met in 2011 when he starred in her You And I music video. Two years later, she told Ellen DeGeneres: "He's a hidden weirdo. He is extremely strange, actually, and we complement each others' weirdness. 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 said to me."
The relationship faced controversy in January 2012 when Kinney's ex-girlfriend, real estate agent Brittany Sackett, told Heat magazine that Gaga had taken Kinney from her. Sackett claimed Kinney accidentally dialled her while with Gaga, prompting her to end the relationship. Sackett said: "I can definitely do better. Lady Gaga has done me a favour," describing Kinney as "disloyal", "weak-willed", "dishonest", and lacking "a backbone".
Gaga and Kinney brushed off split rumours in 2013 and became engaged on Valentine's Day in 2015, with Kinney proposing with a heart-shaped diamond valued at "no less than" $500,000 (£325,000). The couple called off their engagement a year later in 2016. People magazine reported that the split was caused by career pressures, with Kinney filming Chicago Fire on location while Gaga was busy touring.
In 2017, Gaga found love with Hollywood agent Christian Carino, whose clients included Justin Bieber, Amber Heard, Simon Cowell, Miley Cyrus, and Jennifer Lopez. An ET source said at the time: "The amazing thing about their relationship is that he understands her work and career and he is there to guide her. This relationship is different because Christian understands her on a more intimate level. She trusts him fully and feels totally secure around him. They don't get a lot of private time, but when they do, they love to have private getaways in fancy hotels."
Carino proposed within a year, and Gaga confirmed their engagement in 2018 by referring to him as her "fiancé" during a speech. They split in 2019 amid public speculation involving her A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper. The split became clear when Gaga omitted Carino from her Grammy acceptance speech for Shallow. Sources told People the relationship "just didn't work out" and that "there's no long dramatic story."
Brief date with Dan Horton
In the summer of 2019, Gaga was linked to sound engineer Dan Horton after being photographed kissing at a sidewalk table in Studio City. A diner told People: "They were kissing as they spoke really close up. She had a table in the front near the sidewalk, so she was clearly okay with being seen. She seemed very happy when interacting with the guy she was with."
The romance ended by October 2019. Attending the bachelorette party of her makeup artist Sarah Nicole Tanno, Gaga posted an Instagram story captioning a photograph: "An about to be married woman and me, a single lady."
Happily ever after with Michael Polansky
Later in 2019, Gaga met venture capitalist Michael Polansky at a charity event. Romance rumours began when they were seen kissing at a New Year's Eve party in Las Vegas, before making their relationship public on Instagram in 2020. Polansky, a 2006 Harvard University graduate, serves as executive director of the Parker Foundation.
Throughout their relationship, the couple have attended events together including the Super Bowl, the BAFTAs, and the Critics Choice Awards. Gaga accidentally revealed their engagement in 2024 at the Olympic Games when she introduced Polansky to the French Prime Minister as her fiancé.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Gaga recalled: "He proposed on April 1st, and I thought he was joking. Then when we went to the Olympics, we were filmed saying hello to the Prime Minister and I was caught on camera saying 'This is my fiancé'. I had wanted to keep it a secret!"
By August 2024, wedding plans and prenuptial agreement negotiations were reported to be underway. Gaga previously disclosed that the couple had considered an elopement involving "just going to a courthouse, just the two of us, and ordering Chinese food." In March, she called in to Bruno Mars's Romantic Radio TikTok Live stream, stating: "Me and my fiancé have been traveling all year, but we’re getting married soon. We were hoping you could choose a special song for us." The arrival of baby Rose Bean Polansky marks the couple's first child together following their third engagement.
