Lady Gaga has opened up about the severe mental health crisis she experienced during the making of A Star Is Born and while touring the world, saying she feels “lucky to be alive” after what she describes as a complete psychological crash.
The 39-year-old singer and actress revealed that she was taking lithium while filming the 2018 hit movie, and said her mental health deteriorated so dramatically that she sought psychiatric care and was forced to halt work entirely. Reflecting on that period, she said her mind began to unravel both after the film and while she was on her Joanne World Tour.
In the new interview, she said: “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 cancelled the tour.” She continued: “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.”
At the time, Gaga cancelled the final 10 dates of her Joanne tour, publicly citing chronic pain from fibromyalgia, a long-term condition she continues to manage. She has previously spoken about balancing physical illness with the pressures of touring, but this is one of the clearest descriptions she has given of the mental health crisis happening in parallel.
She credited her fiancé, entrepreneur Michael Polansky, with supporting her through her recovery, saying: “Being in love with someone that cares about the real me made a very big difference.”
The singer says she now feels like a “healthy, whole person”, having rebuilt her life and confidence through a long period of rest, therapy and reflection. She released her seventh studio album, Mayhem, earlier this year, and the record has become one of her most acclaimed, earning seven Grammy nominations. Explaining the title, she said: “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.”
Known for hits such as Just Dance, Poker Face, and Paparazzi, Lady Gaga remains one of the most successful pop stars on the planet, with multiple number-one singles and albums and 14 Grammy Awards to her name. Just months ago, she performed a free concert on Copacabana Beach in Brazil, an event said to have drawn around 2.5 million people and which made headlines after authorities reportedly intervened to prevent a potential bomb plot.
Her candid reflections now mark one of her most personal accounts of the pressures of fame, the impact of untreated mental health struggles, and the long road back from crisis — a reminder, she says, that even global superstars are not immune to collapse, and recovery takes time, support, and patience.
