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Lady Gaga Reveals Why She Never Responded to Rumors She Was a Man: ‘I Didn’t Feel Like a Victim’
Lady Gaga has already given fans a million reasons to love her, but she just gave them another one with her explanation about why she never felt the need to address the rumors that she was a man.
“I’ve been used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old,” the “Poker Face” hitmaker, 38, told Bill Gates on his new Netflix series, What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates, which premiered on Wednesday, September 18. “I’m a performer. I think it’s kind of funny. When I was in my early 20s, there was a rumor that I was a man.”
Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, explained that the rumor followed her “all over the world” as interviewers constantly asked her about it. However, she always declined to comment on it for an important reason.
“Almost every interview I sat in, they said, ‘There’s this rumor that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?’ The reason why I didn’t answer the question is because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie,” the A Star Is Born actress said. “But I thought, ‘What about a kid that’s being accused of that, who would think a public figure like me would feel shame?’”
Gaga continued, “I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the well-being of other people. So in that case, I tried to be thought-provoking and disruptive in another way. I tried to use the misinformation to create another disruptive point.”
The Grammy winner did briefly address the rumor in a 2011 interview with Anderson Cooper, but instead of answering the question of whether or not she was a man, she used the opportunity to point out that it wouldn’t matter either way.
“Why the hell am I going to waste my time and give a press release about whether or not I have a penis? My fans don’t care and neither do I,” Gaga said at the time. She also poked fun at the speculation that she had a “male appendage,” saying, “Maybe I do. Would it be so terrible?”
Gaga also recently reacted to a Facebook group titled, “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous,” which was allegedly made by former classmates during her time at New York University.
“Some people I went to college [with] made this way back when,” the “Shallow” singer commented on a fan’s TikTok about the group on September 11. “This is why you can’t give up when people doubt you or put you down — gotta keep going.”
Additionally, she expertly clapped back at rumors that she was pregnant and expecting her first child with fiancé Michael Polansky back in June. “Not pregnant — just down bad cryin’ at the gym,” Gaga wrote over a close-up video of her face, referencing Taylor Swift’s song “Down Bad.” She also directed her followers to a link to register to vote.
Taylor, 34, showed support for her fellow songstress by commenting on the video, “Can we all agree that it’s invasive & irresponsible to comment on a woman’s body? Gaga doesn’t owe anyone an explanation & neither does any woman.”
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