Lady Gaga made the surprising revelation that she takes anti-psychotic medication earlier this summer, and fans are just now taking note. Gaga gave an in-depth interview with Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio host Zane Lowe back in May, discussing the creative process behind her new album Chromatica. At the time, she confirmed that her mental health and her treatment play a significant role in her work.
Gaga told Lowe that she takes a daily dose of olanzapine, a drug primarily prescribed to treat bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. She disclosed this information within a one-hour interview about her album, and about how her mental health impacts her on every level, from her personal life to her creative output. As a public figure, Gaga also intended to help fans and listeners who may be dealing with similar issues and to reduce the stigma around mental health treatment in general. This detail was one of several public revelations about her mental health made in recent months.
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“I wrote a song on Chromatica called ‘911,’ and it’s about an anti-psychotic that I take, and it’s because I can’t always control things that my brain does and I have to take medication to stop the process that occurs,” the 34-year-old pop star said. “I know I have mental issues, and I know that they can sometimes render me non-functional as a human.”
Gaga’s comments on this subject got some attention at the time, though many fans are just now catching up on the interview and the fact that Gaga confirmed her use of the antipsychotic drug. Her mental health has been a big part of her story lately, ever since her interview with Oprah Winfrey last year. There, she admitted that she believes some of her mental health struggles stem from violent sexual assaults she suffered years ago.
“I was raped when I was 19 [years] old, repeatedly,” she said. Eventually, Gaga believes this pattern of violence contributed to a “psychotic break” that put her into the emergency room. She said: “It was one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me. I didn’t understand what was going on, because my whole body went numb; I fully dissociated. I was screaming, and then he [her psychiatrist] calmed me down and gave me medication for when that happens.”
Gaga said that she now relies on comprehensive therapy along with olanzapine to cope with her trauma and adapt to it. In her interview with Winfrey, she also disclosed that she has fibromyalgia — a condition that causes chronic physical pain in addition to cognitive problems. To many fans, this makes Gaga’s story of success all the more impressive.
