Vince Vaughn, Lady Gaga swim in icy cold water for Polar Plunge event

 By 
Brian Koerber
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

What a beautiful day for a dip.

Celebrities, including Vince Vaughn, Lady Gaga, her fiancé and actor Taylor Kinney, participated in Chicago's Polar Plunge on Sunday by swimming alongside locals in frigid Lake Michigan. An estimated 4,500 people took the icy plunge -- despite the 32 degree Fahrenheit water temperature -- to support the Special Olympics, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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The Polar Plunge raised more than $1 million dollars this year for Special Olympics Chicago, which provides year-round activities to around 5,000 individuals with special needs, local television station ABC 7 reported.

Lady Gaga's appearance was a surprise for event organizers, who didn't know that she would be attending until shortly before the plunge began.

"She's pure heart," Casey Hogan, president of Special Olympics Chicago told the Tribune. "She came out for the cause — low-key, no press. It doesn't get any better than that."

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