Talking about working together, Gaga explained,"That woman has been through some really tough, really hard, life-testing stuff."
She continued, "When she came into the studio, I was still crying and she was not."
As for their friendship, Gaga expressed initial concern over befriending Grande, worried about becoming a bad influence on the younger star. She explained, "And I was too ashamed to hang out with her because I didn't want to project all of this negativity onto something that was healing and so beautiful."
However, Grande kept trying to pursue a friendship until it eventually worked. "She was so persistent. She would try over and over again to be friends with me. ... And eventually, she called me on my shit. She was [like], 'You’re hiding.' And I was, 'I am hiding. I’m totally hiding.'"
Since then, the two have developed a close relationship. Tweeting about their friendship, Grande wrote that Gaga "knew pain the same way I did." She continued, "[S]he immediately felt like a sister to me."