Lady Gaga opens up on surviving sexual assault and battling PTSD

Lady Gaga is speaking out about her experience as a sexual harassment survivor. The 35-year-old celebrity made an appearance on the first chapter of Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry's latest Apple TV+ improvisational series, The Me You Can't See, which premieres on Friday, May 21, 2021, and includes discussions about mental well-being. Lady Gaga spoke about how she discovered that she was expecting after having been raped during the episode. She revealed that it was one of her producers who was the perpetrator and he continuously asked her to take her clothes off. Lady Gaga’s age was only 19 at the time the abuse started.

Lady Gaga opens up on rape and the subsequent pregnancy

Lady Gaga recalled refusing and then being threatened. She was told that all of her music would be burned and she would be destroyed if she did not give in. The producer did not stop harassing her and continued insisting. She remembers freezing in fear at that point and blanking out. The singer and actor broke into tears at this point of the interview as the memory became too overwhelming for her. Lady Gaga went on to say that the music industry is abusive and frightening, explaining that she has chosen not to identify the producer since she never wishes to see him again. Years later, she rushed to the physician for discomfort and numbness, and that she was shocked once the clinic sent a therapist instead of a medical professional to see her.

Lady Gaga remembered feeling burning pain for a very long time which was then followed by numbness. She said that the pain reminded her of the pain she had experienced when the producer had raped her and left her impregnated. She recalls being at her parents’ house at the time, puking her guts out and being miserable. She remembered being in trauma because of that experience and being locked in her studio for months. So when the similar pain came back, she was left paralysed with fear.

It triggered a psychotic break which was going on even when she went to receive her Oscar for A Star Is Born. She said that the experience changed her as a person and took her years to overcome. When she managed to move past it, she was not the same person anymore. She shared she had numerous MRI’s and scans to find out the source of the pain and nothing came through in the reports. It was her body that remembered the pain and trauma and was reliving it at times.

Image: Lady Gaga's Instagram