Lady Gaga has shared her thoughts on one of the most persistent falsehoods that followed her in the early years of her career.
The 38-year-old singer–songwriter Lady Gaga delved into her reaction to rumors that she was secretly a man during her recent appearance on Netflix’s new series What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates.
Lady Gaga appeared in episode two of the series opposite the 68-year-old tech founder, billionaire and philanthropist.
According to Lady Gaga who premiered her new Joker sequel in Venice earlier this month, she wasn’t concerned about the rumors about her sex because she was ‘used to lies being printed’ about her.
Lady Gaga also said she thought the questions were ultimately small potatoes compared to the kind of bullying and abuse that other people without her level of fame received for their gender and sexuality.
‘When I was in my early 20s there was a rumor that I was a man,’ Gaga shared with Gates.
‘I went all over the world. I traveled for tours and for promoting my records and almost every interview I sat in they said — there was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored they’d say, “There’s rumors that you’re a man.
What do you have to say about that?”‘ she recounted.
But Gaga’s real name: Stefani Germanotta decided to largely ignore the wrongheaded questions because they didn’t put her wellbeing at stake.
‘The reason why I didn’t answer the question is because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie and I thought: “What about a kid who is being accused of that who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?”‘ she explained.
‘I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of the well being of other people,’ she continued. ‘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.’
At years of misinformation, Gaga said she had developed a thick skin to similar questions.
‘I’ve been used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old. I’m a performer. I think it’s kind of funny,’ she added.
Gaga famously offered a humorously agitated response to Anderson Cooper during a 2011 interview in which he asked her about the ‘rumor’ that she ‘had a male appendage’ or was a ‘hermaphrodite.’
‘Maybe I do,’ Gaga teased him while suggestively sucking on what appeared to be a diamond.
When he pressed her on why she ‘had fun with’ the rumors instead of immediately refuting them via a press release, as he thought other celebrities would, she shot back, ‘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,’ she added.
Gaga’s appearance on Gates’ series comes as she prepares for the release of her film Joker: Folie à Deux, which she stars in opposite Joaquin Phoenix.
Earlier this month, she showed off her platinum blond locks and chic looks for the supervillain sequel’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.