Who is Lady Gaga's boyfriend Michael Polansky? Tech CEO has an ex who had some very revealing things to say about his new relationship

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With her multiple alter-egos, ultra-daring fashion choices - including a dress made of raw meat - and outrageous performances involving being vomited over live on stage, Lady Gaga's eccentricities are next level, even in the world of showbiz. 

But now the superstar's heart has been won by someone far removed from the glitz and glamour of the celebrity scene - tech CEO Michael Polansky, with even Gaga herself admitting: 'His life and my life are very different.'

The Harvard graduate, 46, is from the same coterie as Mark Zuckerberg and his close friend Sean Parker, but while both became household names, Polansky has been content as a background figure. 

Described as being 'instrumental in building many private technology companies', he has the tech bro uniform of jeans, hoodies and a baseball cap to match - the very opposite of his flamboyant partner Gaga.

The couple have kept their relationship relatively private, but have recently upped their joint appearances to promote her upcoming role as Harley Quinn with Gaga showing off her huge engagement ring at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux on Wednesday night. 

Low-key Michael is not wholly removed from the limelight, however, after his ex, New York Times journalist Lindsay Crouse, wrote a viral op-ed on their seven-year romance - and break-up - when news of his celebrity relationship broke in 2020. 

She has been showing off her stunning engagement ring as she graces red carpets ahead of the release of Joker: Folie à Deux (pictured) but superstar Lady Gaga's heart has been won over by someone far removed from the glitz and glamour of showbiz - charity boss Michael Polansky

Gaga was first romantically linked to her now-fiancé around New Year's Eve 2019 and later went Instagram official in early 2020 (Pictured)

Michael (Pictured at the Bloomberg Technology Conference in 2016) attended Harvard University between 2002 and 2006 - and graduated from the prestigious American university with a degree in applied mathematics and computer science

Michael attended Harvard University between 2002 and 2006 - and was a student at the same time as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg -  before graduating with a degree in applied mathematics and computer science. 

But it's not only where he went to school that connected him to Big Tech. 

The businessman and entrepreneur helped create the Parker Foundation in 2015 alongside Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and also Facebook's first president (played by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network).

According to its mission statement, The Parker Foundation 'creates positive changes in global public health, life sciences and civic engagement'.

In practice, this means initiatives such as funding cancer research projects and running an Economic Innovation Group to address America's economic challenges.  

In addition to his work at the foundation Michael - who holds several roles among not-for-profit organisations and other companies - is a board member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. 

The tech CEO has been involved in skin health company Outer Biosciences and investment firm Avos Capital Management - as well as his role in creating the Parker Foundation.

He's understood to have amassed his own tidy fortune as a venture capitalist, although reports estimated his net worth at $600million may be somewhat off the mark.  

Born in Minnesota, his father is an award-winning author Steven Polansky, and his mother Ellen Woods, a pharmaceutical expert. The pair are divorced.

Steven, who has a doctorate in English Literature from Princeton University, is known for books entitled Dating Miss Universe and The Bradbury Report. His short stories have also appeared in huge publications. 

Meanwhile Ellen has built an impressive career in the field of science, currently positioned as the President of the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education.

But it's not just Gaga with an interesting past love life, as after going official with the singer, his ex - New York Times journalist Lindsay Crouse (pictured in 2018) - spoke out

The couple have kept their relationship relatively private, but have recently upped their joint appearances to promote her upcoming role as Harley Quinn (Pictured at Venice Film Festival on Monday)

Throughout their years dating, Gaga and Michael have attended the Super Bowl, the BAFTAs, and the Critics Choice Awards together

Throughout their years dating, Gaga and Michael have attended the Super Bowl, the BAFTAs, and the Critics Choice Awards together.

Speaking to Vogue on Thursday, Gaga revealed that the pair actually met in 2019 through her mother. 

Cynthia Germanotta runs the Born This Way Foundation - which is a nonprofit centring on young people’s mental health. She set up the charity with her daughter Gaga in 2012. 

'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!"' Gaga told the publication. 'I could never have imagined that my mom…found the most perfect person for me?'

Then in December 2019, Gaga was invited to Napster co-founder Sean's 40th birthday party at his house in Los Angeles. Stevie Nicks performed a set at the bash. 

It was there she formally met Michael - after checking with her mother that he'd be there. Gaga said: 'I said, "I wonder if Michael is going to be there," and my mom said yes, and so I went to the ​party and I kept asking for him and he finally came over to me and we talked for three hours.'

The pair talked on the phone for weeks and 'fell in love' before being seen kissing and celebrating New Year's together weeks later.

Wedding plans for the couple are underway, and Gaga is reportedly seeking a $900million prenup before she walks down the aisle (Pictured in October 2023) 

The pair's relationship blossomed as Covid hit and they hunkered down in her Malibu abode for over a year, with Gaga describing the break from her busy schedule and cohabitation with the businessman as 'really kind of special'

Meanwhile, Michael added to Vogue that spending the lockdown together in which they ate pizza and enjoyed walks and coffee together as a 'weird kind of normalcy' which allowed their relationship to develop in a 'real way'.

That February the pair went Instagram official when Gaga shared a photo of them cuddling on a boat in Miami together.

'She's someone who is happiest when she’s creating,' Michael told Vogue of his partner. 'It’s one of the qualities I love most about her.'

In July, Gaga revealed she was engaged to Michael - after he proposed to her during a day of rock climbing. 

She paid tribtue to her partner for helping her through a dark period in her life in which she struggled with her mental health, and even said that her fibromyalgia - a chronic pain condition - has eased since she's found happiness with Michael by her side. 

Her 2022 Chromatica tour was the first time for years she'd not been in pain while performing, and she noted: 'Michael and I did that tour together.'

Prior to dating Michael, Gaga was engaged twice before, first to The Vampire Diaries star Taylor Kinney before they broke off their engagement in July 2016 and then to her talent manager, Christian Carino. 

The pair called it quits in February 2019, a year before she met Michael, whose own love life has been rather more pedestrian with one long-term partner who he met in college.

Michael's ex-of-seven-years, journalist Lindsay Crouse, wrote an opinion piece on the shock of discovering her former partner was now dating a superstar in The New York Times in February 2020.

According to Page Six , Gaga and Michael had 'known each other for a while through events Parker has hosted at his LA mansion' (Pictured in January 2021)

Speaking to the publication in 2020, an inside source claimed that the couple connected at Parker's birthday party in December 2019

'While I'd been watching the Super Bowl on television in New York, they were snuggling in her private box at the Hard Rock Stadium at Miami Gardens,' she penned.

'There were the paparazzi as he escorted her away, her pink hair flowing and sequins pasted around her eyes.'

Lindsay revealed that she and Michael had dated for seven years, all through university and thereafter. 

As she admitted to doing some social media stalking, Lindsay candidly recounted how she actually didn't have Michael's details online - after a bitter end to their relationship saw him block her on Facebook. 

But Lindsay's piece was incredibly uplifting, as she shared her admiration for Gaga and admitted to feeling inspired by her. 

Lindsay said that while in other relationships you are tempted to look up your ex online in the hopes their life hasn't improved without you - this is simply not possible when he is dating such a star.

In March 2021, it was reported that Gaga's romance with Michael was getting serious and she had expressed the desire to start a family with him (Pictured in January 2021) 

'Lady Gaga is amazing,' she wrote. 'Comparing yourself with her is incredibly motivational, and I recommend you try it, regardless of how you relate to who’s dating her.'

Speaking on the Today show a month later, Crouse again explained how the experience helped her 'pull the illusion of celebrity down' and find the positive in social media.

Wedding plans for the couple are underway, and Gaga is reportedly seeking a prenup before she walks down the aisle to protect her fortune, which Forbes previously estimated at $150million. 

In an interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe, the singer also mentioned that Michael had been putting his tech-savvy skills to good use by helping her develop an app for the foundation. 

'With Born This Way Foundation, my mother, Cynthia Germanotta, and our co-founder Maya [Enista Smith], who I love so very much — they are working with my, the love of my life, on something for mental health,' Gaga revealed.