On the Howard Stern show that aired yesterday, Lady Gaga told the US radio host about the time she was raped by a music producer when she was just 19 years old. According to the now 28-year-old singer, the song Swine, which got a lot of press for her performance involving artist Millie Brown throwing up on her onstage, is actually all about sexual assault – and when Stern asked if she’d been raped by a record producer, she admitted that yes, she had.
‘I went through some horrific things that I’m able to laugh [at] now, because I’ve gone through a lot of mental and physical therapy and emotional therapy to heal over the years,' she said. ‘I was a shell of my former self at one point. I was not myself. To be fair, I was about 19. I went to Catholic school and then all this crazy stuff happened, and I was going, “Oh, is this just the way adults are?” I was very naive.’
Sad that Gaga thought that was the way the world worked – that sexual assault was just part and parcel of making it in the music industry, but also interesting that celebrities have started to feel like it’s OK to come forward and discuss rape, regardless of how recently it occured. Shia LeBoeuf has been in the headlines recently, and the women coming forward about Bill Cosby have also been taking up lots of news space – what was one completely taboo to admit, is fast becoming something we can talk about on American radio shows. Which can only be a good thing.
Lady Gaga added that now she’s an adult, she can see that what went on all those years ago was wrong. ‘Because it wasn’t until I was a little bit older that I went, “Wow, that was really messed up. You were 20 years older than me. I was a kid.”’
Maybe the next step is bringing these people to justice – it’s one thing to talk about it, but that record producer still has anonymity despite the fact he raped one of the most recognisable celebrities around at the moment. Just like the woman who allegedly raped Shia LeBoeuf. And, look, Bill Cosby managed to dodge any accusations until well into his seventies. It’s time to start holding alleged rapists to account, whether you’re famous, they’re famous, or not.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.