Lady Gaga Bulimia Battle: Singer Confesses Past Struggle With Eating Disorder

Posted on Feb 8th 2012 6:25PM by Contessa Gayles

Lady Gaga bulimia Koji Sasahara, AP

Lady Gaga was a surprise guest at the Brentwood School-hosted young women's conference, 'It's Our Turn,' in Los Angeles this past weekend (Feb. 4) -- much to the teen audience's delight. The pop star, who's known for preaching her 'Born This Way' message of self-love, took the opportunity to make a shocking confession about her own self-acceptance struggles throughout the years.

During the Maria Shriver-lead the discussion, a young female student stood up and asked the pop icon about her seemingly endless body confidence. It was then Gaga decided to come clean about her past battle with bulimia.

"I struggle with body issues, and I know you're so confident in the way you dress. And I am wondering how you deal with such issues," the student asked Gaga. Then, as The Huffington Post reports, the room went silent for a moment before Gaga answered the student directly. "I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I'm not that confident," she admitted.

"And maybe it's easier for me to talk about it now because I don't do it anymore. I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night," Lady Gaga revealed. "I used to come home and say, 'Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.' And he'd say, 'Eat your spaghetti.'"

The superstar commented on the unrealistic standards of beauty presented in the media, saying, "Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you; they make you perfect. It's not real life." She gave the student a solid piece of advice and encouragement before addressing the entire audience. "It's really hard, but you've got to talk to somebody about it. And the fact that you stood up in front of this whole room and said that is so incredible ... I'm gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it's affecting kids your age. And it's making girls sick."

When Shriver asked Gaga how she eventually conquered her eating disorder, the pop star answered, "It made my voice bad, so I had to stop. The acid on your vocal chords -- it's very bad. But for those of you who don't sing, you maybe don't have that excuse until it's too late. It's very dangerous."

Watch Lady Gaga's 'You and I' Video

Filed under: Hot Off the Press

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seabeeutcn

Some battles should be lost

February 20 2012 at 9:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

seabeeutcn

Some battles are best if lost.

February 20 2012 at 9:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

David Nipper

she has a eating disorder we saw that a few months ago your suppose to eat the meat not wear it you silly little biayatch!!!!

February 09 2012 at 9:25 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Since I am making much less money this year I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get the kinds of gifts I usually get for my family this year. I thought I would try one of the penny auction sites because I heard that they have the best deals anywhere. I checked out a few sites and it became clear to me that the one that was most reliable and had the lowest prices was at ( http://tinyurl.com/TopBargains ) . To be honest, their prices seemed too low to be true. I tested them out by bidding on an iPad, which my son wanted, but I didn't think I could afford one this year, to my surprise and delight I ended up getting one for $73. I got it about a week ago and it was brand new and in a sealed box.

February 09 2012 at 9:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

grapost

When is she going to confess to being a rip off artist who stole everything in her act from Madonna and others.
The only talent this woman has is robbery!

February 09 2012 at 8:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

edthez

Of course she does. In fact, she will confess to anything that puts the spotlight on her.

February 09 2012 at 8:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

groovi

Lady Gaga is a smash sensation , though I don't know why .. her music to me sounds like regurgitated disco, with a little of all other musical intent . Maybe I am just of that old classic rock mindedness where I really do have a hard time appreciating today's music ..............EXCEPT SWITCHFOOT , AND SKILLET , DAVE MATHEWS......... not much else catches my ear..

February 09 2012 at 3:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to groovi's comment

grapost

It's very simple why she is popular. Her fan base is all 25 and under. They don't know of anything that happened more than 10 years ago. So everything she does is NEW and to them Genius because they have never seen or heard it before and have no idea where she stole it from.

February 09 2012 at 8:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to grapost's comment

fgnsdg

Aw, you're cute. What an ignorant statement to imply that young people have "no idea" what happened before their time of birth. You're just bitter because the artists that you grew up with are no longer as relevant as they once were, and it's hard for you to accept that there are new musical talent to take their place on today's charts.

Saying that Lady GaGa "stole" her act from Madonna and others is also ignorant. We are all just a compilation of everything we have ever seen, and everyone we have ever met. Madonna was just a meshing of everything before her time as well. Don't you think that people said they SAME THING about her when she was starting out? Of course GaGa was influenced by many people, as we all are, but to say she "stole her act" from said people is just stupid. Her songs, if you have ever read the lyrics, are in no way similar to Madonna. Her message and personal experiences are different. If you are basing your argument on the fact that GaGa is controversial and a provocateur then you are also stating that anyone who raises eyebrows is a copy of Madonna. Is Eminem a copy of Madonna? Based on your logic, he is.

February 09 2012 at 9:50 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down

cowboys

I'm 26 and I very much appreciate the music my parents listened to as well as some my Grandparents listened to...and I still like Lady Gaga. Not so much for her style of music, but her live performances are what truely show off her talent. Her vocals are actually pretty amazing and she plays the piano exceptionally well, not to mention the fact that she actually writes most of her music. The music she started off with catapulted her high into the charts because it was catchy, but her music is evolving and showing more signs of rock and even some jazz thrown in. While she may have stolen some of her gimics, the talent is there. I see just as much David Bowe, Kiss, Peaches, and Blondie in her as much as Madonna and Cyndi Lauper. She has taken some attributes, but throwing them together and mixing them around is what makes her an original.

February 09 2012 at 12:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down

BRUCE

Well sure...now that Demi is getting all the attention of course Gaga has to have an eating disorder too! I wish all the luck in the world for Demi.....Gaga...just go away.

February 09 2012 at 3:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

obafsal

I gues if she imitated Madonna from the start, she should've started from the beginning:

-Madonna was bullied and was made fun of a lot at school, then she stood up for herself and told "everybody, express yourself so you can respect yourself, I'm not you bítch so dont hang your shít on me"

she was a victim but she took control of her life, starting working out, and took 'No' for an answer, you might say she is a Bítch, but she had to,
instead of being a profesional victim, like that haloween spoke person: gaga...

February 09 2012 at 2:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

obafsal

February 09 2012 at 2:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply