Lady Gaga Says She Let Transgender Rumor Slide For Community

Lady Gaga is finally setting the record straight after years of speculations about her gender.

The "Bad Romance" hitmaker recently addressed the decade-long misconception about her sex, noting she let the transgender rumors fly to protect the community.

Lady Gaga is a well-known supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, but her love for them started long before she achieved her megastar status.

Gaga appeared on the second episode of the "What's Next? The Future With Bill Gates" show, getting candid about the misconception that plagued her career. Since her early 20s, many speculated the singer was a man.

In 2011, Gaga went viral for shutting down a question about the rumors by declaring, "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."

As for why she never gave a straight answer, Gaga told Bill Gates, "The reason why I didn't answer the question is because I didn't feel like a victim with that lie."

Gaga, per Variety, noted her heart was with those in similar situations, saying: "I thought: What about a kid who is being accused of that who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?"

Gaga stressed that clearing the rumors did not matter to her as much as helping the community. "I've been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of the well-being of other people," she explained.

"In that case, I tried to be thought-provoking and disruptive in another way. I tried to use the misinformation to create another disruptive point," she noted about her silence. She also reflected on how viral the misconception was, saying:

"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, they said … there was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored …"

Gaga noted that in nearly every interview she had at the peak of the misconception were questions about "man" rumors and her insight. At 38, she was finally over the transgender drama, declaring:

"I've been used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old. I'm a performer. I think it's kind of funny."

The singer-songwriter's confessions come days after she addressed her relationship with marijuana. The Blast reported that Gaga revealed she was sober after years of using the substance for pain relief.

Gaga struggled with fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder marked by widespread muscle pain. The condition began after she fractured her hip during her "Born This Way Ball" tour in 2013.

Following her hip fracture, Gaga suffered years of fibromyalgia pain and detailed her struggles in the 2017 documentary, "Gaga: Five Foot Two." She shared her difficulty managing the disorder, revealing that she relied on marijuana for relief.

After years of relying on the substance to soothe her pain, Gaga stopped smoking marijuana during her Chromatica Ball tour in 2022. "[It] was the first time I've performed not in pain in…I don't even remember," she recalled.

The singer also credited her fiancé, Michael Polansky, for his support, chiming: "Michael and I did that tour together. I did it pain-free! I haven't smoked pot in years. I've, like, changed. A lot."

Earlier this month, The Blast shared that Gaga met her fiancé in a surprisingly old-fashioned way — through her mom, Cynthia Germanotta, in 2019. She recalled the matriarch raved about Polansky, saying:

"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?"

Her mother's words turned out to be true when Gaga and Polansky met at Sean Parker's 40th birthday bash. The singer noted they had "the most amazing conversation," while her fiancé claimed he was "struck immediately by her warmth and openness."

After nearly five years together, Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky got engaged in April following a day of rock climbing.