Lady Gaga’s Famous Partners Couldn’t Cope With Her Success, But a Mathematician Managed to Make the Singer Happy
Lady Gaga has motivated millions of people to believe in their own strength and accept themselves for who they are. But for a long time, she herself was unable to follow her own advice. The singer hid behind a colorful mask of a flamboyant entertainer and sought solace in romantic flings with famous men. But she found her true happiness by finally following a very different path.
What Lady Gaga was hiding behind her flamboyant images
“I felt so just not beautiful when I was young,” shared Lady Gaga in an interview. She talks openly about the insecurities she had in her youth, and subsequent experiments with her looks. After all, this is ultimately what contributed to her future success and the status of a fashion icon.
Standing in front of the mirror, she spent hours creating a new self. The star says she felt like a different person with her eye-catching makeup and daring outfits. It was as if this transformed her into a superhero.
It wasn’t just the singer’s appearance that was flamboyant, but her entire work life. As magazines wrote, she “brought performance art into the mainstream.” As Lady Gaga became more and more popular, the singer was clearly aware that she had a big responsibility. After all, the whole world was watching her.
“Looking out into the audience and seeing so many people who were like me, people who felt different, who didn’t feel seen or understood. And then also seeing a lot of kids who felt afraid to be open about who they were, [...] I wanted to fight for those individuals,” Gaga said.
Gaga sang about people who were different, talked about them, and was one of them herself. Her mission grew larger and larger, eventually culminating in the Born This Way Foundation, which helps young people with mental illness.
According to the singer, many people are ashamed of who they are. But everyone can change this, simply by starting with themselves. The world was once able to accept Lady Gaga hiding behind her flamboyant masks of insecurity. And that means it can accept others.
Why she couldn’t bear to be single
Every superhero should have someone there to support them in saving the world. But Lady Gaga didn’t have that for years. “I was actually having a lot of trouble with it, I did not like being single,” she shared on The Kyle & Jackie O Show. Her first high-profile relationship was a long-term romance with musician Luc Carl. He was also the source of inspiration for her first hits.
The singer sought happiness with fellow showbiz stars. She was engaged twice: in 2015, with actor Taylor Kinney, and two years later with talent agent Christian Carino. Each time, however, something wasn’t right. The engagement would be called off and the singer’s heart would be broken again. She had to face the bitter fact that every time her career took off, it meant the end of her love life.
How Gaga overcame her own fears
Remember how Lady Gaga used to hide her own insecurities behind a flamboyant image? Well, the singer managed to conquer her fears. Over the years, she’s been hiding behind bright masks less and less, more often showing her real face. Both literally, without makeup, and figuratively, opening up about how she feels.
“When I was 18 on the Lower East Side, I had so many artistic friends. [...] We had no social media and nobody knew who we were. [...] There is a presentational quality and a pressure that we all feel now. Today, I was working all day, and I thought, ’Oh, my! Should I get dressed up and put on a dress, or fix my hair before I see everyone?’ And then I said, ‘No, no, I’m an artist, this is how I dress when I work.’ And I felt confident in coming in here today and just being myself with you,” Gaga said, having showed up for one of her interviews in simple jeans and a T-shirt, with no hairdo or flashy makeup. Now it seems she doesn’t need to get into character to unleash her superhero. She’s embodied her.
Once upon a time, Gaga says, when she was young and unknown to anyone, she loved being alone. The singer would lock herself away alone, composing music, and was incredibly happy in the moment. However, the more successful she became, the more she needed an entourage around her to admire her.
Today, she’s back to her roots. The celebrity has fallen back in love with solitude. The singer appears in Hollywood only for the red carpet of various ceremonies. And she lives far more comfortably away from the hustle and bustle of showbiz.
Who she found true love with
You must agree, it’s not so scary to be alone for a while, knowing there’s someone out there waiting for you. Luckily, Lady Gaga has found her perfect partner. In 2020, the singer met Michael Polansky, who is as far removed from the world of showbiz as possible.
He studied applied mathematics and computer science at Harvard University, and today he’s as much about changing our planet as she is. He’s involved in all sorts of charity work and is also on the board of directors of an institute that is looking for ways to cure cancer.
Polansky supported the singer in her projects to help people with mental illness. He also became her trusted confidant. People close to them say they’re complete opposites of each other. But this time it’s a good thing. She sings about him in her songs and he, without drawing attention to himself, accompanies her to the stage.
“He’s the love of my life,” says Lady Gaga. After a long search — first, for herself, later, for her place in the world, and then, for love — we want to believe that the singer has achieved her goals. The star has shown the world that you don’t have to be afraid to be different. After all, as she says in Born This Way, we are all born superstars.