Lady Gaga wrote a song for a documentary about campus rape and opened up about her own experience in a recent interview for the film.
Gaga attended the New York Times’ TimesTalks conversation on The Hunting Ground, which includes the song “‘Till It Happens To You.” During the discussion, Gaga said that being raped at age 19 changed her life forever.
“I didn't tell anyone for I think seven years. I didn't know how to think about it,” Gaga said. “I didn't know how to accept it. I didn't know how to not blame myself or think it was my fault. It's something that really changed my life. It changed who I was completely. It changed my body, it changed my thoughts.”
The pop star first revealed in December 2014 that she was raped when she was 19. She told Howard Stern that she wrote the song “Swine” about the experience.
“For many people it has almost like trauma, where you re-experience it through the years after it,” Gaga said. “It can trigger patterns in your body of physical distress. So a lot of people suffer not just emotional and mental pain, but physical pain as a result of being abused, raped or traumatized in some way.”
You can watch the full conversation below. The Hunting Ground was released in January and it aired on CNN. It was directed by Oscar nominee Kirby Dick.