Lady Gaga Reveals Why She Always Dodged Rumors She Was a Man: 'I Didn't Feel Like a Victim'
Lady Gaga knows how to choose her battles wisely.
During her appearance on the Netflix series What's Next? The Future With Bill Gates, the A Star Is Born alum opened up about why she chose not to address the long-standing rumors speculating that she's not a woman.
“The reason I didn’t answer the question was because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie,” Gaga, 38, shared with the show host Bill Gates, 68.
“There was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored, and they were like, ‘You know there’s this rumor that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?'” the Grammy winner recalled.
Rather than feeling offended or ashamed, the House of Gucci star chose to rise above the gossip. However, she realized the rumors might affect young people who are more vulnerable when they're younger.
“But 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,” the "Bloody Mary" songstress mentioned.
“I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of — I thought of the well-being of other people,” the pop star continued, explaining why she stayed silent at first.
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“So 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,” she added.
In 2009, Gaga was accused of having "both male and female genitalia," however, her manager quickly debunked the hearsay.
"This is completely ridiculous," they stated at the time.
During a 2009 interview with Barbara Walters, she also addressed the rumor mill.
"At first, it was very strange, and everyone sorta said, ‘That’s really quite a story.’ But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny," Gaga said.
Throughout her career, the singer has proved she prioritizes her relationship with her supporters more than anything else.
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“Why the h--- am I going to waste my time and give a press release about whether or not I have a p-----?” the singer, then 24, said in an 2011 interview with Anderson Cooper. “My fans don’t care and neither do I.”