Lady Gaga has spoken out about why she never addressed rumours that she was a man.
Lady Gaga featured in the second episode of the Netflix series What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates.
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She talked candidly with Gates about rumours that have been circulated about her in previous years, one in particular that took over her early career.
Headlines were constantly questioning the gender of Gaga, and whether she was actually a man.
In 2011, she famously said to CNN: "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.”
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Reflecting on that period of her career, she opened up to Gates about how often she used to get asked about her gender.
She said: "When I was in my early 20s there was a rumour that I was a man.
"I went all over the world.
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"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. "They’d say, ‘There’s rumours that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?'”
Opening up about why she never addressed it, she added: "The reason why I didn’t answer the question is because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie and I thought: What about a kid who is being accused of that who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?”
The star said that sometimes leaving a rumour rather than 'fixing' it is sometimes the best way to go about it.
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She continued: "I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumour was not in the best interest of the well being of other people.
"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.”
Looking back at her early days in the industry and how tough false claims could be, she said: "I’ve been used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old. I’m a performer.
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"I think it’s kind of funny.”
The tech expert's new five-part series aims to look into globally pressing issues, including AI, global warming, and disease.
What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates is available to stream on Netflix now.
Mia Williams