Lady Gaga Had a ‘Psychotic Break’ While Hitting Career Highs

To understand the weight of Lady Gaga’s latest revelation, we have to rewind to 2017.

Lady Gaga had just performed the Super Bowl Halftime Show to end all halftime shows, was gearing up to film her first big starring role with some up-and-coming talent named Bradley Cooper, and was preparing yet another world tour. On paper, Gaga was scaling career peaks. But as her new Rolling Stone cover story revealed on Thursday, the behind-the-scenes reality was much darker.

While filming A Star Is Born, Gaga was taking lithium, a common mood stabilizer, and after filming wrapped, she would kick off a world tour for her fifth album, Joanne. As she tells it, the pressure became unbearable, culminating in a psychotic break that forced her to cancel the rest of the tour.

“I canceled the tour. There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care,” she said. “I needed to take a break… I completely crashed. It was really scary.” At one point, her sister told her, “I don’t see my sister anymore.”

And perhaps the relentless A Star Is Born press tour also didn’t help much.

The fact that she delivered multiple career-defining performances during one of the darkest chapters of her life is a testament to her relentless work ethic and freakish natural talent. Today, Gaga says she feels “lucky to be alive.” And I’m also lucky she’s alive! When an artist pours that much of themselves into their work, you feel it. We truly don’t deserve a talent like her.

Little Monster 4 Eva.

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