Lady Gaga's Instagram Post Explains How Her Family Helped Her Overcome Her Rape

Impact

On Tuesday night, Lady Gaga posted an Instagram of her grandmother and aunt, with a caption about how they helped her through the trauma of her rape, an experience she made public in 2014.

It was her family, she said, who helped her heal and move on. 

In the post, Gaga described her family's response to her powerful Academy Awards performance on Sunday of her Oscar-nominated song, "Til It Happens to You," written for the sexual assault documentary, The Hunting Ground.

Read more: Reaction to Kesha's Rape Allegations Prove Sexism Is Alive in Music

"The morning after the Oscars, when I talked to my grandmother Ronnie with tears in her eyes, I could hear them welling through the phone, she said to me, 'My darling granddaughter, I've never been more proud of you than I am today,'" Gaga wrote. 

Instagram

"Something I have kept a secret for so long, that I was more ashamed of than anything — became the thing the women in my life were the most proud of," she continued. "And not just any women, the ones I look up to the most."

In December, the pop queen told the Los Angeles Times she was hesitant to get involved in the project, given the emotionally fraught subject matter. But Gaga said she the song's co-writer, Diane Warren — who told the Times she had her own experience with "similar situations" — encouraged the singer to overcome that reluctance.

"Something I have kept a secret for so long, that I was more ashamed of than anything — became the thing the women in my life were the most proud of." 

"Diane will tell you, it was really hard for me when [the song] came out. I was really stressed out about it," she told the Times

"Every time I listen to it, I cry," said Gaga. "Every time I get a text about it, I always feel sick. It's like this thing you don't want to face. But because she wanted to face it with me, it reminded me of what the song is for."

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