Lady Gaga opened up about being on lithium while filming “A Star is Born” and experiencing a psychotic break.
The singer is on the cover of Rolling Stone, out Thursday, and she comes clean about using a drug to treat and prevent episodes of mania while filming the Oscar-nominated film. Once filming wrapped, she hit the road for her Joanne world tour, and this is where she experienced what she describes as a psychotic break.
The Oscar winner says, “There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister anymore,’” Gaga told the outlet. “And I canceled 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. I feel really lucky to be alive. I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”
It probably didn’t help that this period of time was one of the busiest for Lady Gaga. Not only was she starring alongside Bradley Cooper in “A Star is Born,” which earned her two Oscar nominations, she also headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show and released her “Joanne” album. She also embarked on a very long and viral press tour for the film, running through the Oscars in February 2019, where the “Shallow” singer won for best original song.
Time and healing have passed and Gaga has found love with fiancé Michael Polansky and is now a “healthy, whole person.”
“Being in love with someone that cares about the real me made a very big difference,” Gaga says of her boyfriend, whom she began dating in 2020.
Up next for the “Bad Romance” singer was starring in “Joker: Folie a Deux,” the sequel to the Oscar-winning “Joker” opposite Joaquin Phoenix. The 2024 film did not meet critics’ or audiences’ expectations, with a domestic opening of $37.8 million.
“I wasn’t, like, unfazed,” Gaga says about “Joker’s” reception. “It’s funny, I’m almost nervous to share my reaction. But the truth is, when it first started happening, I started laughing. Because it was just getting so unhinged. When it takes a while for something to kind of dissipate, that can be a little bit more painful. Only because I put a lot of myself into it.”
The 39-year-old added, “There was a ton of negativity around ‘Joker.’ And I think I was feeling artistically rebellious at the time.”
Gaga channeled all the negativity in her “Disease” music video, the first single from her newest album, “Mayhem.”
“I put so much of that energy into that video. I was in that place, you know, I was like, ‘I’ll show you who I am, and I’ll show you what this fight is like,’” she said.
But now, going into the 2026 Grammys, Gaga is the second-most-nominated artist of the night with seven nods. “Mayhem” was nominated for album of the year, while the mega-successful single “Abracadabra” (which debuted during last year’s Grammys) nabbed record and song of the year nods.
Nothing can stop Lady Gaga!