Wait, Lady Gaga's mom and Glenn Close are real-life friends (who lunch)

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – A funny thing happened at the end of the Critics' Choice Awards Sunday night. 

Lady Gaga and Glenn Close actually tied for best actress – much to their mutual delight.

Close won for "The Wife," while Gaga also won for "A Star Is Born." (They weren't the only tie of the night: Amy Adams and Patricia Arquette also tied for best actress in a limited series.) Once onstage, both women expressed joy to share the prize.

"I'm so thrilled it's a tie, I can't tell you!" said Close. Gaga, overcome with tears after her name was announced, embraced Close onstage. "Glenn, get over here!" she said, after Close stepped away to give Gaga her time at the microphone. 

But then Lady Gaga dropped a bombshell: Her mother would love this moment, Gaga said onstage, because Close and her mother are good friends.

Wait, really? USA TODAY followed up backstage after Lady Gaga and Close finished an adorable photo session.

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Gaga then shared the "sweet little story."

"They met each other and became friends," said Gaga. "They went out together for lunch. And it's a funny story, they decided to go near where my mother used to live. It was pouring rain outside, and Glenn and my mom went outside my mother's old apartment and someone let them in and they took them upstairs. And my mom got to see her old apartment." 

Gaga continued: "But I think what brought them together, truly, is kindness. Glenn has a foundation in support of kindness, and this is something that is so very important to me and my mother with the Born This Way Foundation. We want to empower youth to inspire a kinder and braver world."

At Sunday's Critics' Choice Awards, Gaga also won the award for best song for her track “Shallow."