The Bradley Cooper effect: Before Lady Gaga, there was Renee, Jennifer and Scarlett.

Something a little odd happened last year.

Almost overnight the world became obsessed with two people – they had never met – getting together.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga played star-crossed lovers in the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born.

In the movie, Cooper played an ageing country musician named Jackson Maine who fell in love with an unknown singer called Ally (Lady Gaga).

As Ally’s star rose, Jackson’s fell, and despite their love for each other, the movie did not have a happy ending.

Watch Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga perform Shallow at the Oscars. Post continues after video. 

But that didn’t matter to the millions of people who saw the film.

Because nearly every single person left the movie cinema with one thing certain in their minds – Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga loved each other. According to millions of strangers around the world, they needed to leave their respective partners/babies immediately and give us the goddamn happy ending we so desperately deserved.

Then there was the Oscars performance which contained an almost inappropriate level of eye contact, head tilting and neck nuzzling.

Then came the breakups.

In February, Lady Gaga announced she had left her fiance, Christian Carino.

In June, it was announced that Bradley Cooper and his long-term partner, Irina Shayk, had gone their separate ways.

All of this only added neck nuzzling-fuel to the Cooper/Gaga fire.

People are convinced Cooper and Gaga have something special and that they must risk everything to get together.

But. 

This isn’t the first time Bradley Cooper has had a ‘special relationship’ with one of his co-stars.

In fact, it’s kind of his thing. Cooper seems to have an almost mesmerising effect on his co-stars. He leaves them a little star-stuck and a little in love. And vice-versa.

Here’s just some of the women Cooper has had a ‘special bond’ with:

Jennifer Lawrence.

Between 2012 and 2015, Cooper and Lawrence starred in four movies together.

They first appeared as Pat and Tiffany in The Silver Linings Playbook. When Lawrence won the Oscar for best actress for the role, she dedicated her win to Cooper.

"Bradley, the first time we ever did a scene together, you took my breath away," she said.

"And the first time that I saw the movie, you broke my heart and put it back together.

"I forced him to come onto the movie. I mean, any male role is going to make me think of Bradley because, in my opinion, he's the best, and I love working with him."

Cooper later spoke about the connection they had while learning to dance.

"I wonder if these guys who do Dancing With The Stars, like, have a connection forever," he told Deadline. "I really do think that really provided the basis by which we can just work together.

"We don’t talk often, but when I showed up in Boston for Joy, then all of a sudden it was like we never stopped.

"We just started where we left off, and that’s rare. It’s just easy to look at her and feel like I’m telling the truth."

The pair went on to co-star in American Hustle (2013), Serena (2014) and Joy (2015).

For years, rumours circulated that Cooper and Lawrence were secretly dating. However, the pair have always denied ever having any kind of romantic relationship.

Renee Zellweger.

Cooper and Renee Zellweger met on the set of Case 39.

Zellweger played a social worker named Emily who stumbled on more than she bargained for when she took on a new case. Cooper played her best friend in the film.

The pair dated for a few years before separating when Cooper started working alongside Scarlett Johansson in He's Just Not That Into You.

The former couple have never spoken publicly about their relationship.

Scarlett Johansson.

Bradley Cooper and Scarlett Johansson deeply connected on the set of He's Just Not That Into You.

Cooper played a character who cheated on his wife after meeting Johansson at a supermarket.

At the time, Cooper was dating Renee Zellweger and Johansson was married to Ryan Reynolds. Both relationships fell apart soon after and rumours circulated that the actors were together.

"Even though someone was being hurt in the process, I don’t think my character was bad. I think the two characters really like each other. They connect…" Johansson said about their characters at the time.

"She’s not looking to steal a married man. He’s not looking to have some affair. Both go into it knowing there is somebody else in the relationship that they really feel that this is the point in their life."

Neither Cooper or Johansson have ever confirmed anything romantic between them.

Zoe Saldana.

Cooper and Zoe Saldana became a couple in 2011, while they were working on The Words together.

In the movie, Cooper plays a wannabe writer and Saldana plays his girlfriend.

"Bradley is a very dedicated and open professional. It’s really good when you can balance that with an actor as opposed to an actor that just comes prepared and just goes, 'don’t f*** up my light’ and 'this line is my close-up'," Saldana said of Cooper.

"We didn’t care where the camera was. It was just like we were both part of this extensive conversation."

They broke up and got back together several times over the next few years, before calling it quits for good in 2013.