Lady Gaga's Ex-Dog Walker Ryan Fischer Clarifies Claim Singer 'Abandoned' Him As He Pleaded For Help In GoFundMe, Pal Says He Was Cut Off
Lady Gaga’s ex-dog walker Ryan Fischer is trying to clear the air regarding his statements that he felt “abandoned” after being shot while trying to protect the pop icon’s pooches.
Fischer had to undergo surgery earlier this year after being shot in the chest by armed dog-nappers in Los Angeles, Calif.
After feeling well enough to travel, the 40-year-old left Los Angeles on a cross-country road trip to heal from his trauma. In the middle of the trip his 1991 Ford Falcon broke down and he was forced to launch a GoFundMe to try and put a roof over his head, get a new vehicle and finish his road trip.
“At times I was scared. I was lonely. I felt abandoned and unsupported,” he shared in a clip posted to Instagram, reported Radar, as he pleaded for help. “I had long bouts of depression and doubt and self-pity.”
Following the horrific shooting, Gaga publicly supported Fischer, but many who donated to the then-homeless dog walker were furious that the “Shallow” singer didn’t cough up the dough to help him get back on his feet.
“That woman’s ability to neglect helping Ryan in a BIG WAY is a crime in itself. When there is a crime, the media wants the scoop… For THAT WOMAN to ignore his pleas for help… She might as well have pulled the trigger that shot him… She is disgusting!,” a furious individual commented at the time.
Now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Fischer is trying to set the record straight that Gaga did help him out in ways and he was just going through a difficult period at the time, so his words didn’t come out right.
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“Everyone thought that I was setting a blame on someone, when it was all love. It’s what happens in trauma — all your loved ones, all your family, everyone: you feel alone. You don’t feel supported because this is your journey,” he said in the story, published on Wednesday, September 1. “I tried so hard. I tried to navigate that. I really did think about the wording. It’s a weird video and it’s a weird way to go about life. It’s not normal and I understood that. And I really did try to navigate it as best I could.”
Fischer said the 35-year-old superstar let him crash at her mansion after his near-death experience and she “flew a trauma therapist” out to work with him for “multiple three-day stints.”
However, his assistant, Elisha Ault, told the outlet she sees the situation very differently. “They were supportive from afar — there were a lot of words of assurance, like: ‘Oh yeah, don’t worry about anything, we’re going to take complete care of you,’” she said, noting that support never materialized.
“Nobody really made a point to come see him or talk to him or make contact with him,” Ault explained. “Ryan was a lot more than just an employee for them. They were friends — close friends — for years.”
The assistant added that they sent the "Bad Romance" songstress an invoice as they expected her to give him six more months of financial support after the horrific shooting, but they were stonewalled. The outlet reported Ault was “surprised to receive a text from a member of Gaga’s team asking what it was for,” noting it became clear he was longer going to receive any assistance.
“He had moved out of his apartment, got rid of his car — he had made the move to change his life in a way that he was expecting to be supported in,” Ault concluded. “They knew that he didn’t have any other source of income.”
