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Lady Gaga describes lasting affects of her alleged rape ten years on

'I am still in so much pain that you can't understand'

Heather Saul
Saturday 09 January 2016 10:06 GMT
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has discussed the lasting effects of the sexual assault she allegedly suffered as a teenager after collaborating with another artist who allegedly endured a similar experience.

The singer worked with Diane Warren, an Oscar-nominated writer on the song “Til It Happens to You” for The Hunting Ground, a documentary about the prevalence of rape and harassment on university campuses in America.

In September, Gaga released a powerful music video to accompany the song highlighting the incidences of sexual abuse in an attempt to destigmatise assault and discourage victim-blaming.

Gaga said her own alleged assault at the age of 19, at the hands of a man 20 years her senior, left her questioning whether she was in some way to blame.

“I was already Lady Gaga when it happened,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was someone that I knew, and it was done to manipulate me in conjunction with money and my music, and it was terrifying. It's something that changed me forever, and it made me question everything about what I had done to be where I am today. I thought to myself, 'Did I do something wrong to bring this on myself? What did I do?'”

The 29-year-old told a New York Times panel in December that she stayed silent about the alleged assault for seven years and still experiences traumatic physical and psychological effects.

“I am so sick of people walking in and out of my life telling me that I'm 'gonna be okay,' because I am still in so much pain that you can't understand,” she added. “The person that I'm singing to is the person that wants to heal me — I'm telling them that they can't.”

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