On Saturday, Lady Gaga’s episode of the The Interview podcast from The New York Times was released, as the pop star promotes her hotly anticipated new album, Mayhem. During the discussion, the star got very candid about why she took such a long time to produce a new full studio album, revealing she was struggling with her mental health.
“[Five years ago], I had psychosis. I was not deeply in touch with reality for a while,” she shared. “It took me out of life in a big way, and after a lot of years of hard work I got myself back.”
The star is currently engaged to her longtime partner Michael Polanksy, who met the singer as she was beginning to recover—but still a long way from feeling her best.
“It was a hard time, and it was actually really special when I met my partner because when I met Michael, I was in a much better place, but I remember him saying to me, pretty early on, ‘I know you could be a lot happier than you are,’” Gaga said. “It was really hard for me to hear him say that because I didn’t want him to think that of me. I wanted him to think I was like this happy, totally together person.”
Mental health is still frequently a taboo subject, and Lady Gaga admitted that she still finds it difficult to talk about in public.
“It’s something that I have found increasingly harder to talk about,” she said. “I hate feeling defined by it. It felt like something I felt ashamed of. But I don’t think that we should feel ashamed if we go through times like that. I mostly just wish to say, it can get better. It did for me, and I’m grateful for that.”
Despite the hardship, Gaga said she is doing better than ever and her relationship with Polansky has been a wonderful addition to her life.
“From the moment that I met Michael, he had the most warm and kind disposition of maybe anyone that I had met in my whole life,” she explained.
