Lady Gaga sat down this week at the “It’s Our Turn” conference at Brentwood School in Los Angeles where she discussed her battle with bulimia, a serious eating disorder that affects thousands of teenagers throughout the United States.
In her talk Gaga says she attempted to turn herself from “a voluptuous little Italian girl” to a “skinny little ballerina.”
During her 30-minute interview with Maria Shriver Gaga also took questions from the audience, including a question from a girl who wanted to know how she eventually became confident with her body.
“I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I’m not that confident,” said Gaga. “I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night. I used to come home and say, ‘Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.’ And he’d say, ‘Eat your spaghetti.’ It’s really hard, but … you’ve got to talk to somebody about it.”
The singer also reveals that her disorder almost ruined her career:
“It made my voice bad, so I had to stop,” she said. “The acid on your vocal cords — it’s very bad. But for those of you who don’t sing, you maybe don’t have that excuse until it’s too late. It’s very dangerous.”
As one of the most popular and recognizable figures in the pop world today Lady Gaga told those in attendance that she still worried about her body image today, especially considering that she’s constantly having photos and videos taken.
“Weight is still a struggle,” she said. “Every video I’m in, every magazine cover, they stretch you — they make you perfect. It’s not real life … I’m gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it’s affecting kids your age. And it’s making girls sick.”
Here’s a further report about Gaga’s time spent at the conference:
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Many celebrities battle with eating disorders and we’ve seen the result of those battles end in rehabilitation, hospitalization and other incidents, it’s nice to see someone like Lady Gaga so openly talk about her battles.
I personally think this is too skinny:
Do you think Lady Gaga’s openness about her own battle with Bulimia is allowing her to be a positive role model for her fans, at least in terms of body image or is her often too skinny frame sending the wrong message?
