Lady Gaga Talks About Her Mental Health and Releases Video for Song '911'
Editor's Note
If you experience suicidal thoughts, the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741741.
What happened: Lady Gaga is opening up about the exhaustion on having a persona and her mental health. In an upcoming interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Lady Gaga explained how she “totally gave up on” herself after dealing with the exhaustion of being the center of attention as a celebrity. Lady Gaga revealed that she experienced suicidal thoughts and she lived with members of her support system who she said “watched me for a couple years, to make sure I was safe.”
On her sixth album “Chromatica,” the singer wrote about her dark thoughts and experiences, which she said are based on real-life events she experienced. Lady Gaga’s song “911” explores her relationship with antipsychotic medication, for example. A short film for “911” was released on Friday, and Lady Gaga described in a statement on Twitter that the film is “the poetry of pain.”
I don’t hate Lady Gaga anymore. I found a way to love myself again, even when I thought that was never gonna happen. — Lady Gaga
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) September 18, 2020
The Frontlines: Lady Gaga has publicly shared her mental and physical health journey many times in the past, from living with fibromyalgia to having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as the result of a rape she experienced.
- In a 2018 Vogue interview, the singer talked about her experience living with trauma and chronic illness.
- When accepting a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the song “Shallow,” Lady Gaga spoke about the importance of getting help for mental health and supporting one another through mental health issues.
- As a result of her advocacy, Lady Gaga co-founded Born This Way Foundation “to support the mental and emotional wellness of young people by putting their needs, ideas, and voices first.”
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A Mighty Voice While many of us do not have an onstage persona like Lady Gaga, it is common to be exhausted during your mental health journey. Contributor Vicki Peterson wrote about this in an article debunking the myth people living with trauma are lazy because managing the impact is already a lot of work.
“Shifting these priorities can make a huge difference, but it’s especially a challenge for those of us who cope by making ourselves too busy to face our trauma. When we take our own busyness away and replace it with really checking in with ourselves, it often means feeling uncomfortable feelings. It means tuning into body, mind and spirit that doesn’t feel so hot. That takes time and energy that our tired brains don’t have a lot of extra juice for.” You can submit your first-person story, too.
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Other Things to Know: Struggling with your mental health can take not only a mental toll on people but a physical one as well. People like Lady Gaga have developed chronic pain as a result of PTSD. You can read the articles below to learn more about the connection between PTSD and chronic pain.
- What We Need to Remember About Lady Gaga’s Fibromyalgia Diagnosis
- Are Chronic Illness and Trauma Related? Here’s What You Need to Know.
- When Chronic Pain Leads to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
How to Take Action: You can watch Lady Gaga’s interview on “CBS Sunday Morning with Lee Cowan” on Sunday, Sept. 20, which airs at 9 a.m. EST. You can also watch Lady Gaga’s short film for her song “911” below.
Image via Nicole Alexander/Wikimedia Commons
Julia Métraux is a health and culture writer whose work has appeared in Narratively, The Tempest, BUST, and Briarpatch Magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @metraux_julia and on Instagram @julia.metraux
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