Popstar Lady Gaga has been outspoken about her mental health issues from surviving sexual assault and her chronic illnesses in the last few years.
Now sheโs truly baring her soul and opening up about her history with self-harm.
Lady Gaga spoke to Oprah Winfrey in an interview for Elle magazine about how she recovered from self-harm and what she would tell others going through a similar situation.
โIโve actually not opened up very much about this, but I think itโs an important thing for people to know and hear: I was a cutter for a long time, and the only way that I was able to stop cutting and self-harming myself was to realize that what I was doing was trying to show people that I was in pain instead of telling them and asking for help,โ she said.

She also detailed how she was able to work through that time with the help of others.
โWhen I realized that telling someone, โHey, I am having an urge to hurt myself,โ that defused it,โ she said. โI then had someone next to me saying, โYou donโt have to show me. Just tell me: What are you feeling right now?โ And then I could just tell my story.
โI say that with a lot of humility and strength; Iโm very grateful that I donโt do it anymore, and I wish to not glamorize it.โ
Gaga also talked about how the parallels between her real life and Allyโs made it difficult for her to shake the role for a โlong time.โ

โI had to relive a lot of my career doing that role,โ Gaga said. โI donโt know how you feel when youโve acted, but for me, I donโt view it as filming a movie. I film it as living the character, and itโs a moment in my life, so I relived it all again, and it took a long time for it to go away.โ
That said, Gaga also revealed that her career wasnโt the only thing she had to relive and reckon with when it came to A Star Is Born. While recounting the moment โShallowโ won the Oscar for Best Original Song, Gaga shared that when a reporter asked her, โโWhen you look at that Oscar, what do you see?,'โ she couldnโt help but say, โโI see a lot of pain.'โ
โI wasnโt lying in that moment,โ Gaga explained. โI was raped when I was 19 years old, repeatedly. I have been traumatized in a variety of ways by my career over the years from many different things, but I survived, and Iโve kept going. And when I looked at that Oscar, I saw pain. I donโt know that anyone understood it when I said it in the room, but I understood it.โ
In response, Oprah pointed toward how sexual assault would cause โPTSD for yearsโ โ a sentiment Gaga agreed with by opening up about her PTSD and experience with chronic pain.

โNeuropathic pain trauma response is a weekly part of my life,โ she said, later talking about dealing with fibromyalgia, a musculoskeletal disorder. โIโm on medication; I have several doctors. This is how I survive. But you know what, Oprah? I kept going.โ
Gaga also revealed that thereโs a link between her trauma and fibromyalgia, and that the combination of the two eventually led to โa psychotic break at one point.โ
โIt was one of the worst things thatโs ever happened to me. I was brought to the ER to urgent care and they brought in the doctor, a psychiatrist. So Iโm just screaming, and I said, โCould somebody bring me a real doctor?โ And I didnโt understand what was going on, because my whole body went numb,โ Gaga says of the terrifying experience. โI fully dissociated. I was screaming, and then he calmed me down and gave me medication for when that happens.โ

Gaga also had some basic practical advice for those looking to stop harming themselves.
โOne thing that I would suggest to people who struggle with trauma response or self-harm issues or suicidal ideation is actually ice,โ she said. โIf you put your hands in a bowl of ice-cold water, it shocks the nervous system, and it brings you back to reality.โ
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