Lady Gaga has described how she entered psychiatric care after shooting A Star Is Born.
The Abracadabra singer opened up about her struggle to cope with career pressure in a new interview with Rolling Stone Magazine.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, told the outlet she was already taking a mood stabiliser typically prescribed for sufferers of bipolar disorder when she shot 2018’s A Star Is Born.
“I did A Star Is Born on lithium,” Gaga, 39, told the outlet.
Having wrapped on the movie and begun a world tour, her mental health continued to decline under the weight of her work responsibilities.
“There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister anymore,'” Gaga recalled. “And I cancelled the tour. There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care. I needed to take a break. I couldn’t do anything … I completely crashed. It was really scary. There was a time where I didn’t think I could get better.”
The singer, who won an Oscar for her role in the film, added she was grateful to have survived the experience.
“I feel really lucky to be alive,” Gaga admitted. “I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”
Meeting her fiancé, 41-year-old Harvard grad and tech founder/investor Michael Polansky, had played a major role in her emotional and psychological recovery from the breakdown, Gaga said.
“Being in love with someone that cares about the real me made a very big difference,” she said, and she now thought of herself as “a healthy, whole person”.
