Lady Gaga Still Haunted By Vicious Rumors She's Really A Man: 'Poker Face' Singer Blasts 'I've Been Used To Lies Being Printed About Me Since I Was 20 Years Old'
Sept. 19 2024, Published 12:30 p.m. ET
Lady Gaga is still haunted by persistent rumors she is secretly a man, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Poker Face singer, 38, admitted she’s never been able to shake off speculation surrounding her gender, which has followed the star throughout her career.
And Gaga – real name Stefani Germanotta – believes the misinformation was allowed to continue because she’s historically refused to shut down questions concerning it.
Gaga said: "When I was in my early 20s there was a rumor that I was a man.
"I went all over the world. I travelled for tours and for promoting my records and almost every interview I sat in they said – there was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored – they'd say, ‘'Here’s rumors that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?'"
And on not shutting down speculation, she added: "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?'
"I've been in situations where fixing a rumor 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."
Gaga was opening up about her torment during an appearance on new Netflix series What's Next? The Future With Bill Gates.
The pop superstar famously offered a curt response to the question asked by Anderson Cooper in 2011 in which she was asked about the rumor and whether or not she "had a male appendage" or was a "hermaphrodite."
She said: "Maybe I do."
When pressed by Gates, 68, on why she "had fun with" the rumors instead of immediately refuting them via a press release, she hit back: "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."
Gaga is clearly was in a feisty mood as her outburst came days after she responded to a Facebook group made by her university peers claiming she would never make it in the entertainment industry.
The Joker 2 star, who became the first person in history to win an Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA and Golden Globe in a single year in 2019, briefly studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before leaving in 2005 to pursue a career in music.
Commenting on a viral TikTok video that included screenshots from the now-deleted "Stefano Germanotta you will never be famous" Facebook group, she said: "Some people I went to college (with) made this way back when.
"This is why you can’t give up when people doubt you or put you down – gotta keep going."
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