After taking the stage surrounded by sexual assault victims, during this year’s awards ceremony, the Grammy winner performed her nominated song, “Til It Happens to You,” an emotional ode to survivors of sexual violence.
As the women stood united on the Academy Award stage, viewers of the live telecast were notably shaken by the message as they took to social media to thank Gaga for shining a Hollywood light on the decades-old controversial issue.
“Theres definitely a stigma around this song in addition to there being a stigma around sexual assault that people kind of shut down when you start talking about it and they don’t know what to say and that’s actually what happens to people who have been through a traumatic experience,” she described during an interview on Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. “We shut down as well, so the conversation doesn’t really happen at all.”
Gaga understands the process firsthand—she has been suffering from the effects of a secret sexual assault for the last decade.
“I feel physical pain,” she said during an interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. “I actually suffer from chronic pain and it’s from this paralyzing fear that I’ve experienced for almost 10 years.”