Unlike his performance of 'Shallow' that pretty much made the entire award ceremony, Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk's 2019 Oscar body language is pretty dang uncomfortable. Elite Daily asked body language experts to look into images of the couple before and during the show and... well, their findings weren't super positive. Simply put, it seems as though Shayk wants more attention from her partner and, unfortunately, he's more willing to give that attention to his mother than he is to her.
"You do have to state the obvious that it’s very unusual for an actor up for an Academy Award to have his mom on one side and [his partner on the other]," says Patti Wood, body language expert and author of SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma. "It was already highly unusual that he went to all of these events for several years with his mother. So it becomes more unusual that now he’s in the middle like a cookie with a filling — having himself in between the two of them."
Yep, that's right. While most of us were focused on the potential of a Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper-Irina Shayk love triangle, the real love triangle might actually be between Cooper, Shayk and Cooper's mom Gloria Campano, who he very obviously loves very much.
"We see his energy divided between the two women in his life! So sweet," says Traci Brown, body language expert and author of Persuasion Point. "And they’re doing a remarkable job staying composed in the chaos. We do see her steal a few extra seconds with that modeling look for the cameras as Bradley and his mom walk off without her."
Wood also draws our attention towards Shayk's attention-grabbing poses, but she believes it could be a sign that the supermodel doesn't necessarily love third-wheeling her partner and his mom. "Irina wants more," she notes. "And she gives him more. She turns her whole body towards him, she leans the front of her body up against him, she tilts her head down to his shoulder. She does several poses to make it look like they’re more intimate but he typically is staying straight up and down in response to all of that affection. She does bids to have more affection with him, bids to show everybody, 'I’m your favorite, I’m your partner.' And he doesn’t go full-on to do that."
"He keeps his hand hold of his mom and he leans a little bit in so he gets a couple photo," explains Wood. "It’s just so odd that he doesn’t drop his mother’s hand to be in a couple photo. So you have to cut off his hand for it to just be a couple photo."
"In the couple photo here, as a couple, they’re looking at the camera but they’re not looking at each other," she continues. "It’s really interesting and unique. If Shayk wasn’t doing these bids to be more of a couple, I’d actually be more comfortable with saying, ‘Well, this is just totally different.’ But it’s showing us that she wants more. That she wants to be seen as a couple. So, one member of the couple part of this trio is not super happy with how it is in these photos. "
"[Shayk] doesn’t look all that excited to be sharing the spotlight," notes Brown when first seeing this picture.
On the flip side, Wood notes that his mom is totally cool with third-wheeling the couple. "His mom is fine with it," she says. "It’s funny because he said in an interview that his mom was really nervous, but I was watching videos because I wanted to see her in movement and she’s not doing anything to indicate, ‘Oh, honey, you need to be with your partner. You shouldn’t be with me. Give her more attention.’ She’s just happy in her world with him. She’s very comfortable in her world with him exactly as it is."
"The happiest one here is mom," says Brown. "He’s clearly irritated at something and [Shayk] looks angry."
"It looked to me from the hand-hold and how the space was between his mom and him, that they’re both really comfortable and they comfort each other," adds Wood. "Obviously they’ve been doing that for a very long time. So they comfort each other, they draw comfort from each other."
"His arm is more around mom than her," says Brown. "Is that what’s irritating her?"
"He’s puckered up and away from her, and if you look at the hand, there’s so much opportunity for him to be touching her back. Instead, we see the little fingertips," says Wood. "In these situations, I have a little bit of reticence about analyzing kisses because the guys don’t want to mess up the girl’s makeup. But, though she may have sprayed her back [with makeup], that shouldn’t keep him from touching her back."
"It’s so tentative and, of course, Lady Gaga is right there," she continues. "It could be that he doesn’t want to mess up the makeup on her face and/or possibly her back. But it’s very tentative. His chest is pulled out and away from her rather than bringing the chest in towards her. So it’s a lot of tentativeness."
I mean, I've got to hand it to Shayk. To have to third-wheel your partner and his mom and then watch him perform the steamiest song ever on stage with his on-screen love interest would not be easy. Props to her for staying so cool.
