On the premiere episode of “The Me You Can’t See” by Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga recounted her rape experience at 19, which left her pregnant and caused her a ‘total psychotic break’.
The jokes about Harry’s decision to launch a show on mental illness now seem ill-thought-out. The award-winning singer’s revelation proves that there is not enough platform for people to talk about this highly stigmatised illness.
According to Stefani Germanotta, known popularly by her stage name Lady Gaga, she was not ready to face her abuser despite having fame, power, and 16 whole years of healing. She says that while many of the MRI scans she has undergone since then can no longer find any medical sign of an injury, her body remembers.
An unnamed producer raped her when she was 19 years old and just finding her way in the music industry. “This system is so abusive, it’s so dangerous,” she lamented.
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The unnamed abuser had threatened to burn all of her music if she did not take off her clothes, she recounted through tears. He went on to abuse her, lock her in a studio for months and then dropped her off on the corner at her parents’ house because she was vomiting and sick.
The singer has learned since then to share her story and pain with the public. She does it through her music and interviews such as this. For her, telling somebody is better than showing somebody through self-harm. In 2016, she announced that she had been battling PTSD for years, and she cancelled many concerts on her Joanne World tour between 2018 and 2019 because she suffered a psychotic break — losing touch with reality.
DeMar DeRozan, a professional basketball player, also appears on the “The Me You Can’t See” documentary series streaming on Apple TV+. DeRozan has come out publicly to talk about his struggles with depression.
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Sad stuff.
Interesting