My Ex-Boyfriend’s New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga

My Ex(eks)-Boyfriend’s New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga

How do you compare yourself with one of the most famous women in the world?

By Lindsay Crouse

I was eating bodega(bōˈdāgə) grapes(grāp) at my desk on a recent Monday morning, gearing(ˈgi(ə)riNG) up to wrangle(ˈraNGgəl) my inbox, when my phone started buzzing(bəz):

“Check Facebook.”

“Check Twitter.”

“Are you OK?”

It was an emergency: My ex-boyfriend, I learned, had a new girlfriend.

Lady Gaga.

“Lolol(läl, elōˈel)” if you want. (Everyone I know did.)

But it was true. While I’d been watching the Super Bowl(bōl) on television in New York, they were snuggling(ˈsnəgəl) in her private(ˈprīvit) box at the Hard Rock Stadium(ˈstādēəm) at Miami(mīˈamē) Gardens. There were the paparazzi(ˌpäpəˈrätsē) as he escorted(ˈesˌkôrt) her away, her pink hair flowing and sequins(ˈsēkwin) pasted around her eyes.

Page Six produced a deep dive(dīv) into Lady Gaga’s new “mystery(ˈmist(ə)rē) man.” Refinery29(rəˈfīn(ə)rē) announced that Gaga was “wearing 2020’s hottest new accessory(əkˈses(ə)rē): a normal boyfriend.” The story appeared in the Daily Mail, and Business Insider and People, where my mother read about the couple after checking the magazine out from our local library.

I dated this normal, mystery man for seven years. Our relationship lasted all of college, and then a few years more. (A popular song from back then described being “caught in a bad romance.”)

As you can guess from the fact that you’ve probably never heard of me, I’m not famous.

So suddenly it’s like I’m star-gawking(gôk) by proxy (yes I know there’s another word for that). But there’s almost no way to avoid it.

Social media in 2020 is so ingrained(inˈgrānd) that it’s no longer a supplement(ˈsəpləmənt) or even an addiction(əˈdikSHən). It’s just an accelerated(əkˈseləˌrāt) extension of the way humans have always behaved. We live in a culture of constant updates. You want to unsubscribe(ˌənsəbˈskrīb)? Well, you can’t.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opinion/sunday/lady-gaga-boyfriend.html