Lady Gaga, famous for her bold and daring personality and unwavering support for the LGBTQ+ community, has been subjected to a whirlwind of rumors in the last few days. The singer has been relentlessly questioned about her gender identity, prompting her to address the speculations head-on in the second episode of Netflix's What's Next? The Future With Bill Gates.
In the episode, she said she never felt like a victim of these rumors, so she didn't need to respond. She recanted instances of interviewers confronting her with the question and how she has remained unfazed through the years. In an interview from 2011 with CNN’s 60 Minutes, Gaga said,
"My fans don’t care, and neither do I.”
Lady Gaga claims the rumors are "kind of funny"
During the episode, the singer explained why she never dismissed these assumptions when she told Gates,
“When I was in my early 20s there was a rumor that I was a man. I went all over the world. I traveled for tours and for promoting my records and almost every interview I sat in — there was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored — they were like, ‘There’s rumors that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?’”
She continued, noting that her decision to avoid commenting on these rumors stemmed from a philanthropic spirit, where all she wanted to do was put the security of others before herself. The Joker: Folie à Deux actress said,
“I didn’t feel like a victim of that lie, but I thought, ‘What about a kid who is being accused of the same? What would they feel if I expressed shame?’ “I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of the well being of other people. In that case, I tried to be thought-provoking and disruptive, using the misinformation to create another point of discussion."
In 2011, on CNN's 90 Minutes, Lady Gaga spoke to Anderson Cooper, the show's anchor, about the same. Instead of denying these rumors, she leaned into them jokingly, saying,
“Maybe I do, would it be so terrible? Why the hell am I going to waste my time and give a press release about whether or not I have a penis? My fans don’t care and neither do I.”
During the episode, Lady Gaga also told Gates that she had been used to tabloid rumors since the dawn of her career. If anything, she noted that she found it "kind of funny.” She also acknowledged the assumptions surrounding her performance and said that they might not be real. But the singer noted that to her, "that’s the most real thing that you’ll see" about her.
Lady Gaga's latest movie, Joker: Folie à Deux, will be released on October 4. The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix, who reprises his role as the Joker, alongside Lady Gaga, who embodies his love interest, Harley Quinn.