Lady Gaga Speaks Out About The Music Industry And Her Sexual Assault

Lady Gaga is only 29-years-old, but she’s already been through a lot. Gaga has battled bullying, eating disorders, and now sexual assault. The singer has opened up about one her past demons that have haunted her for so long.

While Lady Gaga accepted her Woman of the Year award at the Billboard Music Awards on Friday, December 11, she took a chance to slam the music industry. She called it “a f***ing boys club.” Gaga just wrote the Grammy-nominated song, “Til It Happens To You,” with Diane Warren for the Hunting Ground, a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses and how both universities and authorities fail to provide victims with the resources and support they need. Gaga also performed the song at the Women in Music Event, held in New York City.

But it was during her emotional acceptance speech in which she talked about the gender inequality and misogyny that runs rampant in the music industry.

“What I really want to say is that it is really hard sometimes for women in music. It’s like a f***ing boys club that we just can’t get in to. I tried for so long, I just really wanted to be taken seriously as a musician for my intelligence more than my body ever in this business. You don’t always feel like when you’re working that people believe that you have a musical background, that you understand what you’re doing because you’re a female. “

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s fellow pop star, Ke$ha, is fighting her own battles with Dr. Luke, the hit-making music producer whom she claims sexually abused her and with Sony, which is home to Dr. Luke’s label. The company is refusing to free the singer from both their label and her music contract.

Both Gaga and Ke$ha have something else in common with it comes to their experience of sexual assault. During her candid New York Times panel talk, Gaga told the audience that she didn’t tell anyone about her sexual assault for nearly 10 years.

“I didn’t know how to even think about it, accept it, how to not blame myself or think it was my fault. It was something that really changed my life, it changed who I was completely, it changed my body, it changed my thoughts.”

Gaga has previously spoken about her sexual assault before. She told Howard Stern back in December, 2014, that she was assaulted by a man 20 years her senior when she was just 19, but she “didn’t want to be defined by it.” Gaga also revealed that she went through a lot of emotional, mental, and physical therapy to recover from it.

Gaga also addressed the “physical pain” that sexual assault victims go through, which is a common side effect that’s often not talked about.

“A lot of people, not only suffer from emotional and mental pain, but physical pain as a result of being abused, raped or traumatised in some type of way.”

Gaga even blamed herself because of her provocative pop-music image. “Because of the way that I dress, and the way that I’m provocative as a person, I thought that I had brought it on myself in some way.”

Her speech received a roaring applause from the audience, including from her family and her fiancé, Taylor Kinney, in the audience. This year has been a big year for Lady Gaga. She recently starred in American Horror Story: Hotel, which she has received a Golden Globe nomination for. Not only did she open up about her sexual assault and the music industry, but she also addressed the ageism in the industry. Gaga is not ready to go away quietly as she approaches her 30s, but she’s not ready to sell herself out, either.

But it looks like Gaga has been heading back to the studio, as she’s been seen making music with producer Mark Ronson. She’s also collaborating with Tony Bennett on their second album together. Ryan Murphy, creator of the American Horror Story series, also revealed on social media that he wants Gaga on Season 6 of the show. This only proves that 2016 will be an even bigger year for Gaga.

[Photo by Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images]