Lady Gaga: I was really bullied my whole life

Lady Gaga has opened up about being bullied, how education is too 'rigid', and her new film, House of Gucci

Lady Gaga speaking to Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show

Lady Gaga has opened up about being bullied in school and hit out at education systems for being too rigid.

The US singer and actor said that growing up she had always been creative and “would sing while the teacher was talking” – something she was scolded for. But, having been bullied in school, she said she sees a lot of herself in her fans.

Speaking on The Late Late Show about her time in school, she said: “I got good grades when I was younger and then around my junior year my grades sort of tanked and I was really bullied my whole life.” 

Gaga, who stars in the upcoming film House of Gucci, said often there can be “no way out” for people who are being bullied.

“I think that it’s just always sort of spoke to me that young people go through life experiences that are powerful and their stories are so often untold because they are told not to talk about it and it’s not okay to talk about it and if you do talk about it and you tell your mom and your dad then they call the school and then your bully finds out, and then you get more bullied. There is kind of no way out.

“And I thought to myself I care about those kids who feel they have no way out and where is their exit point and where do they go?” 

She said that she “was that kid" and when she became a star, she saw all those kids in her audience – "it was like looking in the mirror".

“That’s why I love my fans so much, we are connected in that way.” 

The singer, 35, said that not all children are nourished equally in education as the system is “flawed in the way that it is so rigid”.

“Because some children might be massively gifted in the ways in an area that they are not being nourished. They also might have a real deficiency in an area that doesn’t interest them or is just not, maybe they are not minded in that way, and I don’t think that they should be punished for that.” 

Lady Gaga attending the House of Gucci UK Premiere.

She said that she felt the education system was boxing her into a space that she was going to be stuck in.

“I decided not to go to college because I wanted to follow my dreams, but I had to you know work three jobs, I had to pay my own rent, I had to hustle and be banging on every door that I could so that I could network and get to know people.

“That was a decision that I made just uniquely on my own feeling like the education system was not for me and that it was boxing me into this hole that I was going to get stuck into so you know I do think the education system is flawed in that way. And also, I do believe in a good education, so I think there are two sides to that.” 

Gaga is of Italian heritage and she said leant into that for her role in House of Gucci.

Directed by Ridley Scot, Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani who arranged for the murder of her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver) of the Gucci fashion house. The film also stars Jared Leto, Salma Hayek and Al Pacino.

“What it means to be Irish American is different than being Irish. Right so like those are two different things. So being Italian American which is what I am is different to being Italian. And that informed the role for me.” 

Talking about the character she plays in the film, Gaga said she focused on the ethnicity of Patrizia.

She said that the "mannerisms and the way that I played the role was something that was true to a real Italian woman and Italian culture, not Italian American.” 

Gaga also paid tribute to her “musical companion” Tony Bennett, who she has released two albums with.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett pose in the press room with the award for best traditional pop vocal album for "Cheek to Cheek" in 2015. File picture: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

“Singing with him has been one of the greatest honours of my career. To sing with the legend for 10 years I think any artist would be so lucky and I know that this was an education in jazz music.” 

She praised Bennett as having “built an economy” with the currency of kindness.

“The man used to march with Martin Luther King Junior he used to sneak Duke Ellington in the back of hotels to play jazz all night during segregation. This is a human being, that believed in moving society forward, moving humanity forward.

“His passion for civil rights and black music through jazz is something that I can’t tell you - being even in close proximity to is like standing next to a galaxy.”