Award-winning blockbuster, A Star is Born, captivated its audience with the beautiful yet heartbreaking depiction of two artistic talents coming together both on stage and in life. Offscreen, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga enjoy strong chemistry and a deep platonic relationship. In an interview with TIME, Bradley Cooper said about Lady Gaga, “I love her so deeply. It’s because we were at our most vulnerable together.” However, we must understand that the nature of this platonic relationship is shaped by how people in the West perceive it to be.

We were curious to learn what Singaporeans feel about such relationships, so we ran a survey with the BDR panel to find out more.

Do Singaporeans view platonic relationships the same way as people in the West?

A poll conducted on BDR panelists revealed that 70% of our respondents who are in a committed relationship have platonic friends who are of the same gender as their partner.

60% of respondents said that their partners have platonic friends of the same gender as the respondents themselves. Interestingly, 50% (“Somewhat Disagree” and “Strongly Disagree”) shared that to some extent, they do not agree to their partners having a similar platonic relationship.

Question: I would not want my partner to have platonic friends of the same gender as me.

Why not?

We asked our respondents to reflect on their own platonic relationships and discovered that 18% (“Somewhat Agree” and “Strongly Agree”) said their platonic relationships with people of the same gender as their partner had brought upon problems to their own romantic relationships. One possible reason could be that feelings of physical attraction might develop in platonic relationships. In fact, 26% (“Somewhat Agree” and “Strongly Agree”) confessed that they have felt this way towards their platonic friends.

Question: My platonic relationship with individuals of the same gender as my partner have caused problems in my own relationship.

Question: My platonic relationship with individuals of the same gender as my partner have caused problems in my own relationship.

Does age play a part?

One might wonder if Singaporeans view platonic relationships differently as they mature. We probed further and learned that more than half of our respondents (51%) think that age is inconsequential to the forming of platonic relationships.

Question: In your opinion, which age group is most capable of having platonic relationships?

What’s acceptable in a platonic relationship?

Respondents were presented photos of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and asked what they thought of their perceived behaviors from two perspectives – as someone involved in the platonic relationship, and as the partner. Notwithstanding their roles in the relationship, we found that the sentiments remain consistent on both accounts. Based on the observations of all 4 scenarios, respondents tend to be more accepting of the behaviors as the party involved in the platonic relationship as opposed to being the partner of the involved party.

Seeing how Asians, in general, are more conservative, are Singaporeans ready to embrace platonic relationships the same way people in the West do? Are we prepared to suppress negative emotions when we see our partners having platonic relationships with people our gender? Tell us what you think. Drop us a note at feedback@blackdotresearch.sg.