Lady Gaga was unbothered by the rumors that she was a man early in her career, noting how common it is for performers to be caught in a bad romance with lies printed in the press.
In an episode of Bill Gates new Netflix series What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates, the music superstar spoke to the business magnate about navigating misinformation and shed insight on why she never entertained the baseless rumors.
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“When I was in my early 20s there was a rumor that I was a man,” Gaga recounted in the second episode. “I went all over the world. I traveled for tours and for promoting my records and almost every interview I sat in — there was this imagery on the Internet that had been doctored — they were like, ‘There’s rumors that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?’”
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Lady Gaga.
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty
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Explained Gaga, “The reason I didn’t answer the question was because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie. And I thought, what about a kid who is being accused of that who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?”
“I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of the well-being of other people,” she continued. “In that case, I tried to be thought provoking and disruptive in another way. I tried to use the misinformation to create another disruptive point.”
The star said she’s “used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old,” adding, “I’m a performer. I think it’s kind of funny.”
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Lady Gaga chats with Bill Gates on Netflix’s ‘Whats Next? The Future with Bill Gates’.
Rob Liggins/Netflix
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Gaga famously shut down a question regarding the rumors in a 2011 interview with Anderson Cooper, posing the question: “Why the hell am I going to waste my time and give a press release about whether or not I have a penis? My fans don’t care and neither do I.”
The Grammy winner is known and beloved for pushing the envelope with her career, pairing her strong vocals with provocative lyrics and often reinventing her image during her music career. She has since segued into Hollywood and added an Academy Award to her accolades for the original song “Shallow” in 2018s A Star is Born. Next up, shes set to star opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips Joker: Folie à Deux, in theaters Oct. 4.
