13 facts about Lady Gaga you might not know
Lady Gaga has been serving up top pop songs and eye-catching looks for years, but even the biggest superfan might have missed some interesting titbits about the star.
Born Stephanie Germanotta, her first album, The Fame, was released in 2008. She followed it up with Born This Way, ArtPop, Cheek to Cheek, Joanne and Chromatica.
Now, Gaga is gearing up for her new studio album Mayhem, which will be released this year. So what better time to look back at her illustrious career?
1. Before releasing The Fame, Lady Gaga was a stripper
Before she became famous, Lady Gaga worked as a waitress by day and a stripper by night to support herself in New York’s Lower East Side. Her act was “pretty wild”, she told Fabulous magazine. “I’d wear black leather and dance to Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses and Faith No More. Very rock ‘n’ roll.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, she “made more money stripping than waitressing”.
2. Her first celeb crush was Adrien Brody
During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Gaga revealed that her first celebrity crush was Adrien Brody, best-known for his Academy-Award-winning turn in The Pianist, as well as roles in The Grand Budapest Hotel, King Kong, Succession and, more recently, Oscars hopeful The Brutalist.
3. She wanted to be a combat journalist
During a 2021 interview with British Vogue, just days after the 6 January riots in Washington DC, Gaga revealed that if she weren’t a singer, she would have wanted to be a combat journalist.
“That was one of my dreams,” she said. “When I was at the Capitol, the day before [Joe Biden’s] inauguration, I remember walking around and looking for evidence of the insurrection.”
4. Gaga is bisexual and has a male alter ego
The star came out as bisexual in 2009, revealing that “Poker Face” was about her attraction to women.
The singer had been an activist for LGBTQ+ rights even before coming out and has attributed her success to the gay community. She has a male alter ego and drag king character called Jo Calderone who has appeared in several music videos and editorial spreads.
Calderone first appeared in Vogue Hommes Japan in 2010, and later starred in the music video for “You and I.”
5. Lady Gaga has notable acting credits – with more to come
After finding success as a singer, Gaga made strides in her acting career with roles in American Horror Story, House of Gucci and A Star Is Born, for which she got an Oscar nomination.
Most recently, she appeared in Joker: Folie à Deux and is set to feature in season two of the hit Netflix show Wednesday, based on The Addams Family character.
6. She began her career as a double act
In early 2007, before finding success with The Fame, she was part of a double act with DJ Lady Starlight.
Their act, Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue, was a low-fi tribute to 70s variety acts, and featured Gaga on synth. She attributed it to helping her see her performance as art.
7. Lady Gaga has 14 Guinness World Records
The singer holds a number of Guinness World Records, including for being the first female artist to have four singles sell 10 million copies: “Shallow”, “Just Dance”, “Poker Face”, and “Bad Romance.”
In 2010, she became the first artist to see their first five songs go to number one.
8. She went to the same school as Paris Hilton
Lady Gaga and Paris Hilton grew up in Manhattan and went to the same school on the Upper East Side – but not at the same time.
They actually met in 2009 with Gaga describing it as a “sweet moment” because Hilton was “such a figure in pop culture”.
9. She is godmother to another music legend’s children
Lady Gaga doesn’t have kids of her own but she is godmother to Elton John’s two sons, 14-year-old Zachary, and Elijah, who turned 12 last month.
Elton told US Weekly: “She’s a great role model, she’s young, [and] she’s been a great godmother. We’re all bonkers in this business, but we’re human beings at the same time.”
10. She has her own ‘day’ in Taiwan
Taichung City, in Taiwan, has its own Lady Gaga Day.
It is celebrated annually on 3 July to mark the first time she visited the country, in 2011.
11. Lady Gaga was once the target of bullying by her NYU classmates
Lady Gaga attended New York University but dropped out to pursue her singing career. However, while there, some classmates weren’t too impressed with her desire to be famous.
This led one of them to create a Facebook group called Stefani Germanotta You Will Never Be Famous. Oh dear… we wonder what became of them.
Gaga has responded to a TikTok that posted a screenshot of the group alongside a list of her accolades, writing in the comments: “Some people I went to college [with] made this way back when. This is why you can’t give up when people doubt you or put you down – gotta keep going.”
12. ‘Born This Way’ was written in just 10 minutes
The first song written and recorded for her second studio album, Born This Way, was the title track. Gaga has compared the process to immaculate conception, revealing that the queer anthem was created in just 10 minutes.
13. She has fibromyalgia
Lady Gaga has revealed that she suffers with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that can cause debilitating pain and tenderness in the muscles and soft tissue of the body.
She has had to cancel tour dates because of the “severe pain” she experienced.
“I get so irritated with people who don’t believe fibromyalgia is real,” she once told Vogue. “People need to be more compassionate. Chronic pain is no joke. It’s every day waking up not knowing how you’re going to feel.”
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