Oprah Winfrey interviewed Lady Gaga about mental health to kick off her first national arena tour in five years.
The lengthy chat between the singer and the talk show titan, which took place on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a part of Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus tour, presented by Weight Watchers Reimagined.
During their hour-long discussion, Oprah and Gaga discussed everything from managing her fibromyalgia to her rumored relationship with A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper.
On dealing with fibromyalgia, Gaga revealed to Oprah that even during their conversation, she was in “head-to-toe pain.”
“What’s interesting about it is that I’ve found through neuropsych research and my relationship with my doctors that fibromyalgia can be treated through mental health therapy,” Gaga told Oprah. “And mental health is a medical condition, it should be treated as a medical condition. It should not be ignored.”
Gaga also discussed being raped by someone she knew growing up.
“I was raped repeatedly when I was 19 years old, and I also developed PTSD as a result of being raped and also not processing that trauma,” she told Oprah.
During that time she quickly rose to fame, and she didn’t have a doctor or therapist to help her process her trauma.
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“I all of a sudden became a star and was traveling the world going from hotel room to garage to limo to stage, and I never dealt with it, and then all of a sudden I started to experience this incredible intense pain throughout my entire body that mimicked the illness I felt after I was raped,” she told Oprah. Gaga later said she believed there should be mental health classes in schools.
The “Shallow” singer also addressed romance rumors surrounding her and Cooper during the Oscars saying, “We did a really good job at fooling everyone. We created that.”
Oprah then told the audience: “It wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t believe they weren’t in love.”
Before letting her go, Oprah asked Gaga about when fans could expect her sixth studio album. “We’re having a self-care conversation but I’m still going to make music, don’t worry,” she replied.
Oprah’s 2020 Vision tour is set to feature conversations this winter with Tina Fey, Jennifer Lopez and Michelle Obama, wrapping with Gayle King on March 7th in Denver, CO.