I’ve been enjoying the three-month reprieve from Lady Gaga, haven’t you? Gaga successfully relaunched her career and her brand in 2015, and it culminated with her Oscar nomination this year. Most people thought she was going to win. She didn’t. Sam Smith won. And Gaga has been pretty quiet ever since. Don’t get me wrong, she’s tried to get attention in various ways (pap strolling, relationship drama, discussing her wedding), but most people have been ignoring her.
I was actually wondering if Gaga would backslide a little bit, go back to Gaga 1.0, the zonked-out, melodramatic pop star who made every little thing about Gaga and Gaga’s struggles. I thought we would see her stumbling around in little more than a bra and fishnets. I thought we would get a new album, plus twenty magazine covers to promote it. But no. Gaga is sticking with acting for now. She took part in Variety/PBS’s Actors on Actors series, and she sat down with Jamie Lee Curtis for a conversation. And Gaga has a lot of thoughts about the oppression of her overwhelming fame.
Lady Gaga of “American Horror Story: Hotel” and Jamie Lee Curtis of “Scream Queens” are arguably some of the most famous new faces on TV. But fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be — at least not for Curtis, who told Gaga during their conversation for the fourth season of Variety and PBS’ “Actors on Actors” series, that it’s “isolating.” Surprisingly, Gaga agreed with the veteran actress.
“I don’t think I could think of a single thing that’s more isolating than being famous,” said Gaga. But as Curtis pointed out, they both sought out fame. Well, actually, they both sought out the “art,” and fame was a side effect.
“It’s almost impossible for people even to probably look at my career and the things I’ve done and think, ‘Oh, she didn’t want [that] — of course she wanted to be famous, of course she wanted all that attention.’ It’s just, creative expression is what I am and I would’ve been doing this whether I became famous or not,” said Gaga. “I wouldn’t have given up to try to get famous in another way,” she added. “I wanted to get a job being creative and I did.”
The hardest part of fame for Gaga has been the disconnect between herself and the people she interacts with who hold unrealistic, if not false, expectations. She assured Curtis that she’s not extraordinary.
“It is very hard to not be able to engage with people in a real and honest way because they either want something from me or they see me as something that I simply am not,” she said. “I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music, I am not some extra-incredible human person that needs to be told how wonderful they are all day and kissed.”
Sorry, Little Monsters, but I have to call bulls—t. Gaga wanted to be famous. Sure, she wanted to sing and dance and make art. But she also wanted to be famous. You know how I know that? Because for a few years, everyone stopped giving a sh-t about Gaga and she was so desperate for a comeback and for everyone to pay attention to her again that she completely rebranded herself and resold herself. If she really didn’t care about the fame, she could have just gone away and no one would have noticed. But everything about her is so LOOK AT ME!!!!!
And this: “I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music…” Only Little Monsters think that of Gaga, so she’s basically telling her true-blue fans to stop worshiping her. Except that she would be beside herself if they actually stopped worshiping her.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Ugh, so she wants an Emmy now, right?
I believe she is very talented. That’s it. I do not like this woman at all. She somehow always makes any and every situation about herself and comes across very fake and try hard. I just can’t with her. Go away then.
ETA: also, she always dresses like the wallflower that she is doesn’t she? Totally don’t look at me outfits. Eye roll.
Also wearing a dress made out entirely of raw meat was a great way not to draw extra attention to yourself and keep everyone focused on your art. It helps with her relatability issue as well.
Calling a huge stinkin pile of BS on this one. One of the main reasons I’ve despised her since that awful song Just Dance came out is because she’s been very clear of her intentions “to become an icon”. Um, you can’t decide for yourself after ONE mediocre pop song that you’re going to be “an icon”. Also, she was still name dropping and kissing Paris Hiltons ass at that time. She’s been obnoxiously trying to be more than she is her entire career. Oh, she was also on some stupid mtv reality show for an episode. She bought her way into the industry like Lana Del Rey and complains about it. She’s delusional.
exactly. she COURTED fame and got it. now she’s complaining. she needs to sit down and shut up.
Ugh, of course you did this to be famous. If it wasn’t for the fame you would still be waitressing and playing in piano bars. Or you would still be trying to front a rock band and the list could go on and on and on…. there are many amazing artists out there, whose faces you don’t know, you just know their works. So I call bullcrap on that..
She grates on my nerves. Grates, grates, grates….
Same here.
And have a GD seat, Gaga.
I think anyone who goes into the performing arts – actor, musician, trapeze artist, anyone- you know you are doing it for an audience, no matter what the size is – you live for people to react to whatever it is you’re doing. And people know that the measure of success is how big that audience is, er go, becoming famous. What performer DOESN’T want a big audience? She’s not Sia hiding behind a backwards wig, she wears raw meat as a dress. COME ON GAGA.
Her comments are so disingenuous and extremely tone deaf. Didn’t want fame. Wasn’t one of her albums titled “The Fame” ? Didn’t she write a song about the paparazzi? If she didn’t want this, it was hard to tell.
She’s totally laughable at this point. She’s not relevant enough to be saying these things. And she had to claw her way back after she crashed and burned, so massive BS there.
If you ever find yourself wearing an outfit that makes you look like a dead ringer for Miley Cyrus, stop, go back into your hotel room and tell yourself you deserve better.
As for fame being oh so lonely. Like the loneliest of lonely things evah? Well Gosh, I just hope she finds the strength to not wear blood to events as an evening gown. That’s gotta be SO isolating.
Be careful what you wish for (or pap stroll in ridiculous get-ups), you just might get it….
I agree that she wanted the worship. I also think it’s insane the way fans deify pop stars. I know that being extremely rich is awesome(who doesn’t want to ever have to think about how the Comcast is getting paid), but I can also understand how draining it can be to have humans actually scream unintelligible things at you on a daily basis. That behavior is just bizarre. We can all be a little guilty of wanting things both ways depending on the day of the week.
She is the one who, I suppose, decided to create a whole circus around her no matter where she went. It is a choice, to live as a certain public personna and to engage with everything that comes with it. isolation is just part of it because you can’t relate or belong when you stand out as much as she does.
“I live for the applause, applause, applause
I live for the applause-plause, live for the applause-plause
Live for the way that you cheer and scream for me
The applause, applause, applause”
Yes OBVIOUSLY someone who never wanted the attention that comes with being famous.
That song was going thru my head, too.
Word. Literally
LOL her album was called The Fame, her perfume is called The Fame, and here’s an excerpt from her song The Fame…
”
Fame, doin’ it for the fame
Cause we wanna live the life
Of the rich and famous
Fame, doin’ it for the fame
Cause we gotta taste for champagne
And endless fortune
”
… Um, sure.
True, but if you recall, the album The Fame Monster was all about the downsides of being rich and famous. It’s a growing process. She was also 23 years old when she hit super stardom.
I understand not having the same opinions or dreams you did when you were younger. But why lie about it? She lies too much to make people think she’s a certain way, but she’s not. I feel like she’s not genuine with herself. It’s sad.
Poor baby, should we call a Whambulance.
She is like an annoying, hypocritical mosquito at this point. Every buzz she makes, you just want to swat at her. Ugh…
Yeah this is the same person who wore a meat dress and arrived at the Grammys in an egg. Gurl, please! 🙄🙄🙄
God. I just wish all those stars that actively seek fame would stop talking about themselves as victims. You wanted this and you enjoy this so stop with the bullshit. And i completely agree with this: “Only Little Monsters think that of Gaga, so she’s basically telling her true-blue fans to stop worshiping her. Except that she would be beside herself if they actually stopped worshiping her”. I actually laughet at her comment about being some perfect human being which just shows how far up her own ass she is. It basicaly confirms that she lives and breaths fame which gives her (the wrong) idea about herself
Was going to type something pithy but I just don’t care enough! Maybe she can just go away now.
Omg Gaga, stfu with that BS. I loathe when celebrities constantly court attention yet whine about their fame and lack of privacy. Stop walking around covered in meat or dragging a dead Yeti around (above pic) and no one will even notice you.
It is possible to pursue a career and an art without actively courting the attention 24/7. Sorry, you can’t pull meat dress stunt after stunt for attention and then claim you only want to make music.
It seems like she wants attention but not fan-craziness to where she can’t be a normal person as well.
UGH. Engaging with fame is part of her public persona, it’s part of her myth. She can’t have that and at the same time complain that she can’t have a genuine connection with others. Everything about her is about putting on a show but it comes with a price. She is/was the maker of her own isolation. And if she studied fame like she said in a past interview, she knew exactly what she was doing and it’s consequences, so go cry your crocodile tears someplace else.
I’m getting definite Spike from Degrassi vibes from that hair.
First,love your name. Second, yes!! Degrassi junior high to hs. The tragedy was in the Next Generation when he was balding 🙁
Isolating fame that she never asked for. LOL There wasn’t a day that she wasn’t doing Kim Kardashian pap walks but with bizarre look-at-me fashiion. Sometimes she changed three times a day. This wasn’t on stage or an event. This was to leave her apartment in NYC, to shop, to walk through an airport, etc. It was to such an extreme that the guy that dressed her, help pull all of these looks together left a few years ago, because he said he couldn’t do it anymore. He was exhausted. But of course that wasn’t for attention. Nooooo. That was because she was an artist she says and only doing it for artistic reasons. So pretentious.
I think fame to a high degree isn’t what most big rock stars or pop stars or actors thought it would be, but she wanted it..
They want the fame but realize they can’t have a life anymore
Frankly if she went out dressed down, sunglasses, no entourage, I doubt many people would recognise her, she is fairly ordinary looking when not going for the extraordinary.
I think she wants to be appreciated by others who respect her art but not necessarily worshiped and mobbed by crazy fans. Maybe that’s why she comes and goes–she wants to make music/art but gets overwhelmed by the fans.
Oh come on, she wanted to pull off Fame as some post-modern commentary on fame but that is bullshit. She dropped everything, poured Cheerios all over herself and made fame the priority over all else.
She wanted what she saw as the isolation of fame, the superiority of feeling god-like. Why do you think she wears those platforms all the time? So she could look down on everyone.
STFU
How the F-K do you put Jaime Lee Curtis alongside Gaga and say it’s actors on actors? No, it’s a legendary actor on actors and one untalented wannabe on herself.
Gaga’s acting is absolutely nothing special, and it’s a good thing for her that she didn’t get to act alongside Jessica Lange because then her deficiency would have been really put on show.
Ensemble shows like AHS are a blessing and a curse for the weaker actors in the group. They’re a blessing because being around excellent actors will elevate your performance and you’ll learn from them. It’s a curse because your deficiencies will be all the more evident next to great talent. That’s why certain actors on Game of Thrones come off so poorly sometimes.
She’s a talented musician. She needs to stick to songwriting and playing instruments and doing stripped down low-key performances. That’s her strength.
Also her love of Queen (and Queen’s inexplicable love of her) makes me a sad panda.
Re: doing it for the art vs doing it for the fame
The thing is, when you decide to become an actor when you’re older you go into things with your eyes wide open. You KNOW that however much you love the art, success in this industry means fame. You might not be in it specifically for that fame, but you are aware that if you’re ‘successful’ in non-industry terms you are going to be well known and you have to be okay with that to go forward.
If you’re not okay with it, you do one of three things.
You either quit the industry (which is what I did), you continue to work but make no attempt to go after ‘big’ roles or play the game by networking, or you do theatre if you’re good at it (theatre geeks will recognise you, but there’s no danger of intrusive press).
The simple truth is that be pursuing acting as a full time job means you accept and acknowledge you might become famous and you’re okay enough with that to push ahead with that career.