Lady Gaga has admitted that she was raped at the age of 19 by a music producer who "left [her] pregnant on a corner" after months of violence.
During an appearance on The Me You Can't See, a new mental-health docuseries starring and co-created by Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey, the pop star and Oscar winner spoke through tears as she remembered her trauma.
Gaga says in the first episode of the show that she has been self-harming since she was "very young" and that much of her mental health issues derive from the abuse she suffered as a young musician.
“I was 19 years old and employed in the industry when a producer told me, ‘Take your clothes off,'” Gaga recalls. “I said no and left, and they threatened to burn all of my music,” she said. And they didn't stop asking me questions, and I just froze and... I don't even remember.”
Gaga clarified that she would never call the producer in question as she sobbed.
“I understand the #MeToo campaign, and I understand that some people are happy with it, but I am not,” she said. “I don't want to see that person ever again. This scheme is so exploitative and dangerous.”
Years later, Gaga said she had a "complete psychotic break" and was in an "ultra state of hysteria," which caused her to cancel several dates on a world tour. She later realized it was resurfaced sexual assault trauma.
She recalled, "I couldn't feel my own body." “I was in excruciating pain at first, then numb, and then sick for weeks. I realized it was the same pain I felt when the person who raped me dumped me pregnant on a street corner near my parents' house because I was vomiting and sick. Since I had been raped and had been imprisoned in a studio for months.”
Gaga said it took her two and a half years to heal, but that "being activated once" is all it takes for her to revert to physical and emotional pain.
Gaga is several well-known figures in The Me You Can't See, which has been described as "strong yet frustratingly unambitious".
The film, which also stars Winfrey, Prince Harry, and Glenn Close, is now available to watch on Apple TV+ (21 May).
