Lady Gaga Reveals How Her Harley Quinn Is Unlike Any Other

Lady Gaga is stepping into the shoes of one of pop culture’s most iconic characters, Harley Quinn, in the highly anticipated "Joker" sequel, alongside Joaquin Phoenix, who will reprise his role as Arthur Fleck.

Known for her powerhouse vocals and bold performances, the Grammy-winning artist is taking on a new challenge by diving into the chaotic and unpredictable world of the infamous anti-hero.

With her unique blend of talents, Lady Gaga says she is set to bring a fresh take to Harley Quinn.

When asked by Variety how the film or character connects to her personal life, Lady Gaga responded, “Harley Quinn is a character people know from the ether of pop culture. I had a different experience creating her, namely my experience with mania and chaos inside—for me, it creates a quietness."

"Sometimes women are labeled as these overly emotional creatures and when we are overwhelmed we are erratic or unhinged. But I wonder if when things become so broken from reality, when we get pushed too far in life, what if it makes you…quiet?” the singer added.

She takes a moment, getting emotional, before adding, “I would say that I worked from a sense-memory perspective: What does it feel like to walk through the world and be…braced, in an intense way. And what happens when you cover up all of the complexities beneath the surface?”

One particular scene shows Gaga applying Harley Quinn's makeup in the mirror, singing "I've Got the World on a String" to herself, but the challenge for Lady Gaga was figuring out how to sing like an everyday person with a voice that has earned her 13 Grammy Awards,

“Yeah. I worked really hard on that, kind of trying to undo all my technique. I mean, Ally Maine in 'A Star Is Born' is a singer and it’s a movie about people who make music,” she said. “That is not what this film is about at all.”

She wasn't in it alone though. Her costar, Joaquin Phoenix, encouraged her along the way.

“I encouraged her to sing poorly. I remember asking her to sing without her vibrato," the actor told Vogue. "She has a beautiful vibrato—too beautiful. I think she felt naked without it. But as soon as she moved away from technique she unlocked her character’s voice.”

Michael Polansky and Lady Gaga met in 2019 through Gaga’s mother, Cynthia Germanotta, who co-founded the Born This Way Foundation with Gaga in 2012 to support youth mental health, met Polansky through shared philanthropic efforts.

Polansky, a Harvard graduate from the Zuckerberg era, is a close associate of Napster co-founder and former Facebook president, Sean Parker.

“My mom met him and she said to me, ‘I think I just met your husband,’ and I said, ‘I’m not ready to meet my husband!’ I could never have imagined that my mom…found the most perfect person for me?” she told Vogue.

In December 2019, Stevie Nicks performed at Sean Parker’s 40th birthday party, held at his home in Los Angeles and Gaga was invited. "And I said, ‘I wonder if Michael is going to be there,’ and my mom said yes, and so I went to the ​party and I kept asking for him and he finally came over to me and we talked for three hours."

"We had the most amazing conversation,” the singer recalled. "And then COVID hit."

Polansky had been based in San Francisco, but during the pandemic, he and Gaga moved in together at her Malibu home for more than a year.

“It was really kind of special,” she says. “I’d been so focused on my career since I was a teenager. And the gift of that time was that I got to completely focus on my relationship. I met this totally supportive, loving human being who wanted to get to know me—outside of Lady Gaga.”

“We had this amazing chapter of a weird kind of normalcy,” Polansky added, “that’s essential for any relationship to develop in a real way—taking walks, making coffee, hanging out with the dogs, reading books together….”

“The pandemic was easier on her than you might think. She’s used to being isolated because of her fame and was able to take so much of it in stride. I think she loved the chance to slow down," he continued. "She’s been operating at an unfathomable level of intensity for years and it’s no secret it had caught up to her.”

The "Born This Way" artist went on to recall how "painful" it was to see how "deeply" the COVID-19 pandemic affected the world.

“Not only how sick people got, so many people died, but also so many people were alone," she said. "I feel very grateful that I wasn’t alone. I had never met anyone like Michael. He’s so smart and so kind. And his life and my life are very different."

"He’s a very private guy and he’s not with me for any other reason than that we are right for each other," the actress continued. "But I think what I want my fans to know is that I’m just, like, so happy. I’m healthy."