Did you know there can be 100 people in a room? And did you know that maybe 99 of those people won’t believe in you? And did you know — and I mean really, really know — that all you need is the one person who does believe in you? Perhaps you knew this. Lady Gaga has said it more than once while promoting A Star Is Born. The quote rivals the movie’s most famous scene: Bradley Cooper stands inches away from Lady Gaga on a stage or at an event or on a red carpet, and she looks at him tearfully, describing him as the One Who Believed in Her, the one person who believed that she could take on A Star Is Born’s titular star. It’s happened so often there’s even a super-cut:
During a GQ LIVE talk over the weekend, Gaga’s well-worn anecdote got an extra bump of support from Jonah Hill. “When it was going around, I think it was from a place of mean intent,†he told moderator Zach Baron. “But I thought to myself, damn, she really is an incredible actor. She’s delivering those same talking points every night and making them sound new. That’s acting.â€
Madonna has suggested that Gaga’s refrain is a rip-off of something she once said, but in an Elle profile, Gaga described the anecdote’s origins from her old vocal coach, Don Lawrence: “I was taking meetings with entertainment attorneys and knocking on people’s doors, trying to get them to listen to demos that I made on a four-track Tascam cassette player, and [Lawrence] said to me, ‘There can be a hundred people in the room, and 99 of them won’t believe in you, but all you need is one.’â€