Warning: This article deals with mental health problems and rape, and may be triggering for some readers.
Lady Gaga said she suffered a "psychotic break" after being raped and made pregnant by a producer at age 19 as she was trying to get a foothold in the music industry.
Gaga, now 35, gave details of the assault in an interview for the Apple TV+ documentary The Me You Can't See about mental health and the long term effects of trauma.
"I was working in the business, and a producer said to me, 'Take your clothes off.' And I said no. I left, and they told me they were going to burn all of my music. And they didn't stop. They didn't stop asking me, and I just froze and I - I don't even remember," said the singer, who first revealed the sexual assault in 2014.
"First, I felt full-on pain, then I went numb. I was sick for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks after, and I realized that it was the same pain that I felt when the person who raped me dropped me off, pregnant, on a corner," she added.
The Star is Born singer and actress said she suffered "a total psychotic break and for a couple of years I was not the same girl."
Gaga refused to name the person who raped her.
"I understand this #MeToo movement, I understand that some people feel really comfortable with this, and I do not. I do not ever want to face that person ever again," she said.
Gaga in 2012 created the Born this Way Foundation for people struggling with mental health issues.
She said the process of healing was slow.
"Even if I have six brilliant months, all it takes is getting triggered once to feel bad," she said.
Reuters
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
- Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
- What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
- Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
- Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
- Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
- Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584
