VF:I feel more like a missionary, rather than a pop star

[yASSsss 35,510]

In this album there is a lot about you and your family, your Italian roots are entirely showing up.
I feel deeply Italian: my father’s family, Joseph Giuseppe Germanotta, arrived in NYC from Palermo through Ellis Island; his mother Angelina is from Santa Lucia Del Mela (province of Messina). My grandmother is from Venice instead. This album is a tribute to Joanne Stefani Germanotta, my father’s sister: she died at the age of 19 in America and this tragedy afflicted my family for generations.

Why did you decide to talk about this now?
It was not a choice, but a necessity. Me and my sister Natali feel the sorrow for the loss, but we were not able to understand it for years. Sometimes I ask myself if I really know my dad, because losing a member of your family changes you completely. I grew up seeing the feelings on my parents’ and relatives’ faces who, at every festivity were reuniting around a table just like good Italians, were missing her.

Your father used to talk about this loss openly?
No, my grandmother Angelina told me about it and my mother as well. When I asked her: “Mom, why is dad crying? Mom, why does dad drink so much? Mom, why is dad always so angry? Mom, why is dad missing the Mass today?,” she used to reply: “Dad has been going through a hard time since he lost his sister at a very young age. Pray for him because he feels this loss so deeply that you can’t understand”. Today my father comes to me to pray, he holds my hand, and he says to me that we have to talk to God and be grateful. Today my father doesn’t drink anymore, he stopped 2 years ago. I saw his progress to heal and I wanted this to be the aim of the album: I want to tell the entire world about this experience of loss and hurt lived by my family to help those who are in the same situation to make it through. To reach this goal I had to communicate more humanly: they couldn’t be lyrics by Lady Gaga, they had to be lyrics by Joanne, which is also my second name.

Read the full interview here:

http://ladygaganow.co/lady-gaga-for-vanity-fair-italy-i-feel-more-like-a-missionary-rather-than-a-pop-star

(translated in English by Lady Gaga Now)

 

[Coop 15,354]

Heartbreaking

[Coop 15,354]

Have you ever thought about leaving the music industry because of your illness?
I think about it everyday. Because I know that in any moment I can stop, go home and be happy; but then I’d become unhappy because I did not reach my aim: I have a strong relationship with God which reminds me why I’m here. The truth is that I feel more like a missionary, rather than a popstar.

 

[The Surrealist 27,470]

In the last 5 years you had a relationship with Taylor Kinney. Did he help you?

"Yes, Taylor was always very loving and still he still is. He is still a good friend and he keeps being my love. My family also helped a lot.

She stops. She’s crying.

And also all the people that work with me today. But it was important to get rid of the man that was controlling my life without worrying about me."

Wait, what? Was Taylor controlling her life?

Have you ever thought about leaving the music industry because of your illness?
I think about it everyday. Because I know that in any moment I can stop, go home and be happy; but then I’d become unhappy because I did not reach my aim: I have a strong relationship with God which reminds me why I’m here. The truth is that I feel more like a missionary, rather than a popstar.

[Supersonic 49,376]

2 minutes ago, Sycamore said:

In the last 5 years you had a relationship with Taylor Kinney. Did he help you?

"Yes, Taylor was always very loving and still he still is. He is still a good friend and he keeps being my love. My family also helped a lot.

She stops. She’s crying.

And also all the people that work with me today. But it was important to get rid of the man that was controlling my life without worrying about me."

Wait, what? Was Taylor controlling her life?

Have you ever thought about leaving the music industry because of your illness?
I think about it everyday. Because I know that in any moment I can stop, go home and be happy; but then I’d become unhappy because I did not reach my aim: I have a strong relationship with God which reminds me why I’m here. The truth is that I feel more like a missionary, rather than a popstar.

She's talking about Troy.

"During the Born This Way Ball Tour I explained to my management many times that I was sick; I asked for help to people from the music industry who were working for me, no one ever listened to me."

Exactly, everybody wants to keep making money and pretend like nothing happened. If no one listens to you for such a long time, however, your body and your mind will stop at some point; and you don’t who you are anymore, you cannot express what you feel. Because it’s a mental illness and you’re literally paralyzed. And then I broke my hip during a concert: when I woke up after the surgery, my manager was not there and I felt even less loved. To my label I was just a money machine.

[Nono 3,576]

I am my sisters sister, my fathers family...

[MelbHawker 6,583]

3 minutes ago, Sycamore said:

ut it was important to get rid of the man that was controlling my life without worrying about me."

I NEED MORE omg 

[Drin Lon 7,875]

1 minute ago, Nono said:

I am my sisters sister, my fathers family...

Never understood what's so funny about that 

[yASSsss 35,510]

Just now, Coop said:

Have you ever thought about leaving the music industry because of your illness?
I think about it everyday. Because I know that in any moment I can stop, go home and be happy; but then I’d become unhappy because I did not reach my aim: I have a strong relationship with God which reminds me why I’m here. The truth is that I feel more like a missionary, rather than a popstar.

 

this breaks my heart 

[crisTEAne 21,059]

i think the phrase she used during the BTW era was pop-cultural baptism. if she still perceives herself as a missionary, it just proves that she has not changed—not one bit. i love her so much.  

[JustYouandI 2,483]

20 minutes ago, MelbHawker said:

I NEED MORE omg 

She is talkimg about Troy. In that section of the answer she is talking about the people that she works/work with and what she had to do to get better, hence getting rid of that man.

[Rugbyguy 144]

Isn't it fathers daughter?

[Morphine Prince 105,627]

Heartbreaking. 

[Doncho 27,241]

"they couldn’t be lyrics by Lady Gaga" I dislike that part, but I get why she said it...

[Stef 61,598]

Have you ever thought about leaving the music industry because of your illness?

I think about it everyday. Because I know that in any moment I can stop, go home and be happy; but then I’d become unhappy because I did not reach my aim: I have a strong relationship with God which reminds me why I’m here. The truth is that I feel more like a missionary, rather than a popstar.

This was the last question in her VF Italy covershoot. It really hit me in such a weird way and it made me really scared because, like she many others, she has everything that fame has to offer. The hits, the success, the recognition and the accolades. She has nothing more to prove and she could retire tomorrow and never have to sorry about money for the rest of her life  

But Gaga is more than that, music is her life and she doesn't treat it like a source of income. I think what I'm trying to say is that we're lucky as **** y'all. To stan an artist who lives and breathes her work. Who is motivated by her fans rather than the $$$. So we really should he less harsh on our queen y'all  

She does her best and she's in it for the long haul, baby for life