Lady Gaga reveals secret battle with psychosis: ‘I was not deeply in touch with reality for a while’
Lady Gaga opened up about her mental health struggles that deeply affected her daily life while promoting her latest album, Mayhem.
‘[Five years ago] I had a psychosis,’ the 38-year-old Grammy winner told The New York Times podcast The Interview about the dark time in her life.
‘I was not deeply in touch with reality for a while,’ the Poker Face artist admitted. ‘It took me out of life in a big way, and after a lot of years of hard work I got myself back.’
The hitmaker said the various characters she created for her persona as Lady Gaga lead to her not being completely attached to reality.
‘I had to figure out a way to integrate myself fully with my stage persona and kind of inhabit Lady Gaga’s boss energy in my everyday life but in an empowered way, and make sense of maybe two things that don’t make a ton of sense,’ the Joker: Folie à Deux actress said of the process.
‘I’d like to think that I’m a kind person, but there’s a ferociousness and a hardness and an intensity that I have onstage as a performer. So I had to learn how to hold those two things and have them not be at war with each other,’ she explained.
Lady Gaga, 38, revealed she went through a very dark period about five years ago. ”I had a psychosis,’ she told the NYT podcast The Interview. ‘I was not deeply in touch with reality for a while. It took me out of life in a big way, and after a lot of years of hard work I got myself back’ (Pictured in New York City on Saturday)
‘I’ve learned to not pour gasoline on it. I used to like more chaos, just living life on the edge constantly. I’m now proud to be much more boring.’
In an era when many are claiming to be ‘authentic,’ the Oscar winner said she has found her own way to be her authentic self.
‘I was authentic before. That was authentically me. I just was authentically splitting off into different personalities all the time,’ she contended.
‘Now, who I would be at dinner with you is who I would be in this interview. I guess authenticity is subjective. I just feel like I more easily can hold it all.’
Lady Gaga, who revealed in 2021 she had a ‘psychotic break’ and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after being raped and impregnated by a music producer when she was only 19, spoke about the lack of safety for young artists, especially young women, in the music business.
‘There are no laws around who can be a producer, and they’re not vetted by anyone,’ she said.
‘So when you’re 17 years old and you are invited into a studio, you have no protection. You don’t know where you’re going. You may not even have an adult in the room with you other than the person that you’re working with. It’s not the safest industry.’
She said her fiancé Michael Polansky, whom she met sometime in 2019, had played a big role in helping her deal with the dark times. I had to figure out a way to integrate myself fully with my stage persona and kind of inhabit Lady Gaga’s boss energy in my everyday life but in an empowered way, and make sense of maybe two things that don’t make a ton of sense,’ the Joker: Folie à Deux actress said
I had to figure out a way to integrate myself fully with my stage persona and kind of inhabit Lady Gaga’s boss energy in my everyday life but in an empowered way, and make sense of maybe two things that don’t make a ton of sense,’ the Joker: Folie à Deux actress said (Pictured in London in September 2024)
‘I’d like to think that I’m a kind person, but there’s a ferociousness and a hardness and an intensity that I have onstage as a performer. So I had to learn how to hold those two things and have them not be at war with each other,’ she explained (Pictured in Los Angeles in September 2022)
‘It was a hard time, and it was actually really special when I met my partner because when I met Michael, I was in a much better place, but I remember him saying to me, pretty early on, “I know you could be a lot happier than you are.” It was really hard for me to hear him say that because I didn’t want him to think that of me,’ she said.
‘I wanted him to think I was like this happy, totally together person. But it’s something that I have found increasingly harder to talk about.’
‘I hate feeling defined by it. It felt like something I felt ashamed of,’ The Edge of Glory singer said, adding, ‘But I don’t think that we should feel ashamed if we go through times like that.’
She said her fiancé Michael Polansky, whom she met sometime in 2019, had played a big role in helping her deal with the dark times (Pictured in New York City in February)
‘It was actually really special when I met my partner because when I met Michael, I was in a much better place, but I remember him saying to me, pretty early on, “I know you could be a lot happier than you are.”‘ (Pictured in Venice in September 2024)
The next persona Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, wants to inhabit is mother. ‘I’m excited to be a mom,’ she said (Pictured in London in September 2024)
The 911 artist then offered a message of hope to other. ‘I mostly just wish to say, it can get better. It did for me, and I’m grateful for that.’
The next persona Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, wants to inhabit is mother.
‘I’m excited to be a mom. I used to have a lot of apprehension about it,’ she admitted.
‘The thing that’s the most important to me is to not force my children to live a life that they are not choosing. So the more that we can give them space to discover who they are on their own, that’s the thing that I believe in the most.’
