Lady Gaga opened up recently about a harrowing experience she went through as a teenager that left her emotionally scarred.
While making an emotional appearance on Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry’s new docuseries The Me You Can’t See, the singer, 35, revealed that she was raped at age 19 and left pregnant after the assault.
What did Lady Gaga say about her attack?
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, said that she was asked by a producer to take her clothes off or have all her music burned. She explained that she kept saying No and the producer persisted in insisting she strip down.
After several times of him asking, the singer said she wasn’t able to keep fighting him off and she blacked out as the assault began. She also said that the rape left her pregnant, traumatized, and emotionally and physically damaged.
The attack left her with PTSD
The singer shared that the effects of the rape were deep-seated and reared up in the form of PTSD, which she said she was diagnosed with years later.
Lady Gaga explained that her past trauma combined with the stress of working so hard in the studio caused her to suffer a psychotic break that led to her cancelling a string of tours between 2018-2019.
She admitted that sharing something so personal was not easy, and she worried about criticism coming from it. She said that she felt a lot of “shame” about telling her story, saying, “How do I explain to people that I have privilege, I’ve got money, I’ve got power, and I’m miserable? How do you do that?”
Even with 16 years between her assault and where she is now, the singer said she still struggles today with feeling tempted by the idea of inducing self-harm, explaining that she can have many good months, but it only takes one bad moment to set off the triggers.
Lady Gaga’s revelations come after she recently returned to America. She spent four months away to film her newest movie House of Gucci in Italy with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons.
Lady Gaga’s dog walker was attacked while the singer was filming in Italy
While filming, Lady Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was brutally attacked while walking the singer’s three dogs around L.A. Fischer was shot at close range multiple times, and the robbers then snatched two of Lady Gaga’s prized French bulldogs.
L.A. police recently arrested five people in connection to the attack, one of whom included the “good Samaritan” woman who claimed she had rescued the stolen dogs after allegedly finding them tied to a post in an alley.
Police said the attack was gang-related, and the scheme had been planned out to get money from the singer. Lady Gaga had previously offered up a $500,000 reward to anyone who returned her dogs unharmed, but police had warned her not to pay the woman who brought them in until she had been completely cleared.