Lady Gaga Talks About Sexual Assault, Mental Health

On Monday, at the Elle Annual Women in Hollywood Celebration event, Lady Gaga made more than a fashion statement. She delivered her Women in Hollywood acceptance speech in an honest attempt to drive change. The popstar opened up about facing sexual assault, mental illness, and urged everyone to lift up each other’s voices and “beckon the world towards kindness”.

"As a sexual assault survivor who is still not brave enough to say his name, I decided, today I wanted to take the power back. Today, I wear the pants"

Gaga wore an oversized Marc Jacobs pantsuit and took the stage to deliver an emotional acceptance speech. She spoke about her sexual abuse, mental health and Hollywood's burdening beauty standards for women.

Gaga shared details of her own painful experience with sexual assault at 19 and her battles with PTSD and fibromyalgia. She expressed her wish to see mental health resourcing and funding become “a global priority”.

Why did Lady Gaga wear this menswear-inspired look to the Elle Women in Film Awards last night? I transcribed her pretty stunning speech about it. pic.twitter.com/TfgKelbuOd

— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) October 16, 2018

"I asked myself: What does it really mean to be a woman in Hollywood? We are not just objects to entertain the world”

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"I asked myself: What does it really mean to be a woman in Hollywood? We are not just objects to entertain the world. We are not simply images to bring smiles or grimaces to people’s faces. We are not members of a giant beauty pageant meant to be pit against one another for the pleasure of the public. We women in Hollywood, we are voices. We have deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs and values about the world and we have the power to speak and be heard and fight back when we are silenced." Link in bio for #ELLEWIH honoree @LadyGaga's speech, which brought the entire room to tears, while also inspiring everyone who heard it to own their power and be kind to one another. ❤ #ladygaga

A post shared by Elle Magazine (@elleusa) on Oct 16, 2018 at 12:35pm PDT

Singer Jennifer Lopez, while presenting the award to 32-year-old Gaga, exclaimed, “When they tell us to stay in our lane, we make a new one.”

"I had a revelation that I had to be empowered to be myself today more than ever," Gaga mentioned. "To resist the standards of Hollywood, whatever that means. To resist the standards of dressing to impress. To use what really matters: my voice," she said.

Gaga also confirmed her engagement to agent, Christian Carino, during a red carpet interview at the event. Read her full speech transcript here.

Photo credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

Also Read: Lady Gaga Opens Up About Dark Side Of Fame