After a long silence on social media, Lady Gaga shared a lengthy, emotional statement on the death of her friend and collaborator Tony Bennett. Bennett died July 21 at the age of 96, just two years after publicly revealing an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Gaga took to her Instagram on Sunday and, in a lengthy caption on a photo of herself and the late musical legend hugging in a dressing room, said, “I will miss my friend forever.”

“With Tony, I got to live my life in a time warp,” she shared. “Tony & I had this magical power. We transported ourselves to another era, modernized the music together, & gave it all new life as a singing duo. But it wasn't an act. Our relationship was very real.”

The friendship seemed unlikely to some—Gaga the often-shocking new pop act and Bennett the classic jazz crooner—but after meeting in 2011 when Gaga performed at a charity benefit, they bonded. That same year, they duetted on “The Lady is a Tramp” for one of Bennett’s albums. Their artistic bond didn’t just span music: a nude charcoal sketch Bennett made of Gaga, signed “Benedetto,” was auctioned for charity for a final price of $30,000. They went on to collaborate on a full album together, Cheek to Cheek, and performed together in concert.

In her tribute, Gaga applauded not just Bennett’s musical talent, but his activism and service, citing his World War II service and marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr. She also wrote about Alzheimer’s and how it impacted her friend. She said that they had “a very long and powerful goodbye.”

“I've been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time,” she wrote. “We had a very long and powerful goodbye. Though there were 5 decades between us, he was my friend. My real true friend. Our age difference didn’t matter— in fact, it gave us each something neither of us had with most people. We were from two different stages in life entirely—inspired. Losing Tony to Alzheimer’s has been painful but it was also really beautiful. An era of memory loss is such a sacred time in a person's life. There's such a feeling of vulnerability and a desire to preserve dignity. All I wanted was for Tony to remember how much I loved him and how grateful I was to have him in my life.”

She pleaded with her followers not to turn away from the hard parts of watching someone slip away.

“If I could say anything to the world about this I would say don’t discount your elders, don’t leave them behind when things change,” she wrote. “Don’t flinch when you feel sad, just keep going straight ahead, sadness is part of it. Take care of your elders and I promise you will learn something special. Maybe even magical. And pay attention to silence—some of my musical partner and I’s most meaningful exchanges were with no melody at all.”

A new documentary, The Lady and the Legend, is set to debut on Paramount+ next fall, according to Bennett’s son, Danny Bennett. It will explore the relationship between Gaga and Bennett, and showcase their 2021 Radio City Music Hall performance together, in honor of Bennett’s 95th birthday. It was the final time they performed together.

Gaga also announced Monday that she’d be performing a run of “Lady Gaga Jazz and Piano” concerts in Las Vegas in August and September, which will surely be influenced by her work with Bennett.

“I’ll never forget Tony Bennett,” Gaga wrote in her memorial post, before offering a simple, sweet sign-off: “I love you Tony. Love, Lady.”