Lady Gaga reveals she had a psychotic break after shooting ‘A Star is Born’
Lady Gaga, who won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for the 2017 film A Star is Born, said she shot the film while on lithium, a mood-stabilizing medicine often used for bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.
In her recent cover story with Rolling Stone, the Born This Way singer said this was followed by “a psychotic break” during her "Joanne" world tour, which started in August 2017 but was cancelled in February 2018, with only ten stops remaining. At the time, Gaga cited chronic pain caused by her fibromyalgia.
"There was one day that my sister said to me, 'I don’t see my sister anymore,'" she told Rolling Stone. “And I canceled the tour. There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care. I needed to take a break.”
Before the tour, Gaga also headlined the Super Bowl halftime show. “I couldn’t do anything … I completely crashed,” she continued. “It was really scary. There was a time [when] I didn’t think I could get better.… I feel really lucky to be alive. I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”
“I believed in suffering for your art. I believed in that in a way that was so real. It was almost earnest and sweet, but it was really not healthy for me,” she reflected.
Now, the 39-year-old singer sees herself as “a healthy, whole person,” thanks in part to the support of her fiancé, entrepreneur Michael Polansky. He is credited as one of the creative directors and executive producers of Lady Gaga’s ongoing world tour, The Mayhem Ball.
Her latest album, Mayhem, released last March, allowed her to “rediscover everything that I’d lost.” She added, “I honestly think that’s why it’s called Mayhem. Because what it took to get it back was crazy.”
The lead single, Disease, the singer explained, “is so deliberately about somebody that wants to harm you—and it being you.”
Mayhem recently earned seven Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.
In March, Gaga revealed to NY Times that she was diagnosed with psychosis, a set of symptoms where a person experiences a loss of contact with reality.
"I had psychosis. I was not deeply in touch with reality for a while. It took me out of life in a big way, and after a lot of years of hard work I got myself back," she said.
"I hate feeling defined by it. It felt like something I felt ashamed of. But I don't think that we should feel ashamed if we go through times like that. I mostly just wish to say, it can get better. It did for me, and I'm grateful for that." she continued.
