Lady Gaga ‘sobbed’ as Tony Bennett looked ‘lost’ while recording after Alzheimer’s diagnosis

Lady Gaga ‘sobbed’ as Tony Bennett looked ‘lost and bewildered’ during a recording session shortly after he received an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis in 2016.

The pair headed back to the studio between 2018-2020 to record new music after their 2014 hit duet album Cheek to Cheek, where Tony was showing ‘clear signs of the disease,’ according to a new article in AARP.

‘Tony was a considerably more muted presence during the recording of the new album with Gaga,’ the publication stated, noting that Bennett spoke rarely and, when he did, seemed ‘lost and bewildered.’ 

‘Gaga, clearly aware of his condition, keeps her utterances short and simple,’ after revealing she thought about their 2015 tour together and Tony responded ‘uncertainly.’ 

‘The pain and sadness in Gaga’s face is clear at such moments — but never more so than in an extraordinarily moving sequence in which Tony sings a solo passage of a love song,’ AARP reported. ‘Gaga looks on, from behind her mic, her smile breaking into a quiver, her eyes brimming, before she puts her hands over her face and sobs.’ 

Tony said ‘life is a gift, even with Alzheimer’s’, and thanked his wife Susan Crow, 54, and his family for their continued support in a tweet shared on Monday morning.

Gaga and Bennett released their jazz album, Cheek to Cheek, in 2014, which debuted at No. 1 on US charts and included a tour around the country.

Between her promotional tour for A Star Is Born and creating Chromatica, Gaga and Bennett recorded a new album which is set to be released this year.

Susan, and his son, Donny, made the decision to disclose of his diagnosis to the publication ‘without Tony’s input’ because he is ‘incapable of understanding the disease, let alone making momentous decisions about whether to publicly disclose it.’ 

They added that Bennett’s neurologist ‘strongly encouraged’ the singer to continue to sing and perform, as it both keeps him ‘on his toes’ and stimulate his brain in ‘a significant way.’ 

Susan told the publication: ‘There’s a lot about him that I miss. Because he’s not the old Tony anymore … But when he sings, he’s the old Tony.’ 

She added that they kept it secret because ‘he always like to say he’s in the business of making people feel good. And so he never wanted the audience to know if he had a problem.’

Dr. Gayatri Devi, who diagnosed the star, told the magazine: ‘He is doing so many things, at 94, that many people without dementia cannot do, He really is the symbol of hope for someone with a cognitive disorder.’