Lady Gaga is about to expand her range once again by taking on the role of DC icon Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie a Deux, but while appearing on Netflix’s What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates, the actress returned to an earlier time in her life – specifically, a time when the internet was full of rumors that she was actually a man. Speaking about her experience in depth, the acclaimed singer and actress explained how she had never allowed the stories to bother her.
“When I was in my early 20s, there was a rumor that I was a man. Well, there was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored, and [reporters] were like, ‘You know, there’s this rumor that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?’ The reason I didn’t answer the question was because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie.”
In general, Gaga’s approach to handling the rumors was just to ignore them – although she did famously respond to the question while appearing on 60 Minutes in 2011, when she told Anderson Cooper, “Why the hell am I gonna 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!” However, in general, her stance was to address the matter without “fixing” the rumor.
“I thought about, what about a kid that’s being accused of that, that 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. 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.”
Lady Gaga Knows How to Be Real as a Performer
In an industry where being a success means constantly playing a persona, it is often hard to tell what is real and what is false when it comes to tabloid reports, insider rumors, and even the way someone carries themselves in Hollywood. Reports of bad behavior on movie sets, tirades being launched against crew members, and even more sinister goings-on are all seeming part and parcel of the gauntlet of Hollywood.
For Gaga, her performance is one of the most truthful things anyone will ever see, and she believes that it is far more honest than any of the speculative and potentially damaging stories created to “gain more clicks.” She added:
“I’ve been used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old. I’m a performer. I think it’s kind of funny. People, I think, assume that someone like me that performs, that my performance is what’s not real. To me that’s the most real thing that you’ll see about me. That is so much more real than all of the rumors that are designed to orbit me to gain more clicks.”
Joker: Folie à Deux
is released in cinemas on October 11.