Inside Lady Gaga’s LIFELONG BATTLE WITH Depressıon

After over two decades of mental health challenges, Lady Gaga is more resolved than ever to help others in pain

The bullying was brutal. “In middle school, because she was unique, she started experiencing a lot of struggles. You know, feeling isolated from events. Humiliated. Taunted. And she would start to question herself and become doubtful of her own abilities,” Lady Gaga’s mother, Cynthia Germanotta, 65, reveals in a new interview, speaking frankly about the singer’s mental health issues. “And that’s when she developed depression.”

Gaga has struggled with her mental health for more than two decades now. But as she’s endured the soul-crushing ups and downs of her illness, she’s also turned into a fierce advocate for others in pain. “Gaga obviously gave her mother permission to give this very personal interview, because Gaga knows it will help people,” says a source. “She didn’t always know there was a way to get help, so if she can show someone that there is hope, then she’s done her job.”

SUDDEN FAME

Gaga’s issues intensified a few years before she released her first hit song, “Just Dance.” She developed PTSD after she was raped at 19, she bravely revealed in 2018. The same year, she publicly shared that she’s endured “debilitating mental spirals that have included suicidal [thoughts].” Even though she’s come a long way, “Gaga still struggles sometimes — depression just doesn’t leave you,” says the source. “It can be treated, but it still rears its ugly head.”

Thanks to her wild success — at just 33, Gaga’s won 11 Grammys, two Golden Globes and an Oscar — “some people might think she had it easy,” adds the source. “But she didn’t, and she still has to be diligent about her mental health.”

BAD ROMANCES

The last four years have been particularly challenging. Although she’s now in a new relationship and happy (see sidebar), “she had a string of bad ones,” says the source, referring to her two broken engagements — with Taylor Kinney, 38, and Christian Carino, 50 — and her reported romance with her A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper, 45, that went nowhere, even after his split with his longtime girlfriend, model Irina Shayk, 34. “Relationships can still have an effect on her depression,” says the source. “She dealt with a lot when she was younger but is still dealing with heavy things in adulthood. Now she just has the tools to persevere.”

And she wants to pass those tools on to others. She and her mom in 2012 launched the Born This Way Foundation, which supports the mental and emotional wellness of young people, and Gaga’s vowed to keep talking about her struggles and her triumphs. “The best thing that could come out of my mental illness,” she’s said, “was to share it.” ◼