Lady Gaga gave a poignant explanation about why she refused to deny some early speculation she was trans.
In the "Truth and Consequences?" episode of Netflix's What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates, the "Born This Way" singer reflected on the 2011 rumor about her gender identity that culminated in a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper that year.
At the time, Cooper had asked:
"There was a rumor that you had a male appendage, that you were a hermaphrodite and you joked about it on the stage last night."
"A lot of artists would immediately put out some sort of statement saying, ‘This is absolutely not true’. You have fun with it.”
The singer replied:
“Maybe I do, would it be so terrible? Why the hell am I going to 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.”
Here is a clip of the February 2011 CNN interview.
@tanaslaughter Lady Gaga talks about penis rumour, February 2011 #ladygaga #popculture #2010s
In the new Netflix series, Gaga shared her retroactive insight with Gates about the rumors.
She began:
“I went all over the world. I traveled for tours and for promoting my records and in almost every interview I sat in they said … there was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored."
"They’d say, ‘There’s rumors that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?’"
The segment played vintage clips featuring several interviews all pressing Gaga about being trans, including one in which she denied the rumor about being "part man, part woman." She told Barbara Walters that she liked to "portray herself in a very androgynous way."
In retrospect, Gaga explained why she had refused to dignify the trans rumors with a formal response.
She told Gates:
“The reason why I didn’t answer the question is because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie and I thought: ‘What about a kid who is being accused of that who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?'”
Gaga, who is an advocate for LGBTQ+ equality and activism, added:
“I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumour 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.”
She noted how people see an artist like herself and assume that their performance is what's not real.
"But to me, that's the most real thing that you'll see about me," she clarified.
"That is so much more real than all of the rumors that are designed to orbit me to gain more clicks."
You can watch her response here.
Fans were reminded of why they loved Lady Gaga so much.
In 2012, Lady Gaga launched her Born This Way Foundation–named after her 2011 single and album of the same name. The non-profit organization was created to support young people.
As an LGBTQ+ ally, she vocally opposed former Republican President Donald Trump's anti-trans policies, including his military transgender ban.
Gaga also joined other celebrities who condemned Trump and spread the #WontBeErased campaign on social media following a 2018 leaked memo from his administration in which he planned to exclude transgender Americans from the legal definition of sex.
In addition to her music career, with her eighth studio album expected to drop in February 2025, Gaga continues acting in films.
She will star as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel /Harley Quinn in the upcoming is-it-or-is-it-not a musical movie, Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019's Joker featuring Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role.
