Tony Bennett Still Recognizes Lady Gaga After Alzheimer's Diagnosis: 'She's Hard to Forget'

The show will go on.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett are forging ahead with the spring release of their second joint album after news broke on Monday that Bennett has been quietly living with Alzheimer's disease since 2016.

During an interview with Gayle King for CBS This Morning, Bennett's wife Susan Benedetto, 50, revealed the pop star, 34, is aware of Bennett's diagnosis.

"Yes, but you know, Gaga is wonderful," Benedetto, 54, told the host, 66. And when asked whether the "My Favorite Things" hitmaker, 94, still recognizes Gaga, Benedetto said with a laugh, "Most definitely. Gaga is hard to forget."

From 2018 to 2020, amid Bennett's battle with Alzheimer's, he joined forces with Gaga and recorded a follow-up album to their ultra-successful Cheek to Cheek, which dropped in 2014. The upcoming release of the project contributed to his family's decision to publicly disclose Bennett's Alzheimer's diagnosis without his input, as he is no longer able to understand fully. The Bennett family wanted to inform the public why Bennett will not be able to participate in press surrounding the album.

"I wanted to check with [Lady Gaga] to make sure she was cool," Bennett's son, Danny, told AARP of asking Gaga about sharing Bennett's diagnosis. "She watches his back all the time. She was like, 'Absolutely, it's just another gift that he can give to the world.'"

Bennett's diagnosis was shared in an AARP the Magazine profile about his life for their latest issue.

The legendary singer's neurologist, Gayatri Devi, explained that making music has been a positive for Bennett and his health for the past few years. "It kept him on his toes and also stimulated his brain in a significant way," Devi told the outlet. " ... 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."

While chatting with King, Bennett's wife Benedetto detailed the moment she realized something had changed for her husband. "We came home one night after a show and he said to me, 'Susan, I can't remember the musicians' names.' I just chalked it up to him being at the time [in his] late 80s [when] you forget things."