Lady Gaga Reveals Struggles With Mental Health After A Star Is Born Role

Lady Gaga just admitted that after she filmed her breakout role in A Star is Born, she experienced a “psychotic break.” The pop superstar made a huge splash in the music industry with hits like “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “Bad Romance,” and “Born This Way.”

In recent years, she’s explored her acting talents in American Horror Story, a remake of A Star is Born, House of Gucci, Joker: Folie à Deux, and Wednesday.

She may have earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Ally Campana opposite Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine in A Star is Born, but the singer admitted to Rolling Stone that she filmed that movie “on lithium,” a medication typically used to treat bipolar disorder, though Gaga hasn’t revealed whether she’s been diagnosed with the mental health condition.

During this time, Gaga was stepping into the shoes of a struggling singer in A Star is Born who falls in love with an alcoholic, which creates a lot of tension and drama in their relationship and careers. The film deals with a tough subject matter, particularly its emotional and heartbreaking ending.

The role earned the entertainer an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a win for Best Original Song (“Shallow”). A Star is Born was widely praised, with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Once production on A Star is Born ended, and she launched her Joanne world tour, Lady Gaga started experiencing a “psychotic break,” which got to the point where she checked herself into a hospital for “psychiatric care” because she needed a break after she “completely crashed.”

She called the situation “very scary” and wasn’t sure whether her health would improve. As a result, the singer feels “really lucky” to be alive and healthy today. In late 2017 and early 2018, Lady Gaga canceled several dates on her tour due to health concerns.

I did A Star Is Born on lithium. There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister anymore.’ And I canceled the tour. There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care. I needed to take a break. I couldn’t do anything… I completely crashed. It was really scary. There was a time where I didn’t think I could get better…I feel really lucky to be alive. I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.

One person who really helped Lady Gaga through this difficult period in her life was her now-fiancé, Michael Polansky, whom she met in 2019. Falling in love with someone who cared about the real human being (Stefani Germanotta) behind all the fame and wealth “made a very big difference.”

However, she still had to explore her own inner turmoil and learn how to be herself with Michael, despite not knowing how to be herself around other people.

Being in love with someone that cares about the real me made a very big difference. How do you learn how to be yourself with someone when you don’t know how to be yourself with anyone?

Fast-forward to 2025, and her music career has seen a resurgence thanks to Lady Gaga’s critically acclaimed album Mayhem, which just earned multiple Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Song of the Year (“Abracadabra”), Best Dance Pop Recording (“Abracadabra”), Record of the Year (“Abracadabra”) and Best Pop Solo Performance (“Disease”).

Her Joker: Folie à Deux-inspired album, Harlequin, also received a nod for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

As for her personal life, Lady Gaga is the happiest she’s ever been and claims she’s a “healthy, whole person” now. It took her several months to rediscover herself and what she had lost along the way. The process to get there was “crazy,” which is why she called the new album Mayhem.

It was months and months and months of rediscovering everything that I’d lost. And I honestly think that’s why it’s called Mayhem. Because what it took to get it back was crazy.

While promoting Mayhem, Lady Gaga revealed that her dream, now that she’s engaged and planning a wedding, is to start a family with Michael. Now that the co-lead of A Star is Born considers herself to be a “whole person,” her positive outlook on life sees the singer planning for an even brighter future.