Lady Gaga Unbothered By Rumors She Was a Man, Thought They Were “Kind of Funny”

Millennials may remember that at the onset of her career, pop star Lady Gaga was beset by rumors that she had been born a man. On the second episode of the Netflix series What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates, the Joker: Folie à Deux star sat down with the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and addressed why she was never all that bothered by the rumor: “I’m a performer. I think it’s kind of funny.”

Gaga harkened back to her Fame Monster days, when she was beginning to gain traction in the music industry with hits like “Paparazzi” and “Poker Face” in the late 2000s. “When I was in my early 20s, there was a rumor that I was a man,” the 38-year old told Bill Gates. “I went all over the world. I traveled for tours and for promoting my records. And almost every interview I sat in, they said…” Before she could continue, a confused Gates shook his head in disbelief, prompting Gaga to explain the origin the rumor: “There was this imagery on the internet that had been doctored,” she said. “They’d say, ‘There’s rumors that you’re a man. What do you have to say about that?’”

A class act even then, Gaga understood that defensively combatting the rumor might cause more harm than simply ignoring it. “The reason why I didn’t answer the question is because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie,” she said.

At the same time, she didn’t want to vehemently deny the rumor for fear of hurting any of her young, queer fans. “I thought: What about a kid who is being accused of that who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?” said Gaga. “I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of the well-being of other people. In that case, I tried to be thought-provoking and disruptive in another way. I tried to use the misinformation to create another disruptive point.”

The “Die with a Smile” singer did, in fact, address the “man” rumors at least once at the time, pointing out to Anderson Cooper on CNN in 2011 that they were ridiculous. “Why the hell am I going to waste my time and give a press release about whether or not I have a penis?” she said then. “My fans don’t care and neither do I.”

The famously performative pop star also chalked up her lack of concern to the foibles of fame. “I’ve been used to lies being printed about me since I was 20 years old,” she told Gates. “I’m a performer. I think it’s kind of funny.” She then waxed poetic about the very nature of performing. ”People, I think, assume that someone like me that performs, that performance is what’s not real,” said Gaga. Au contraire: “To me, that’s the most real thing you’ll see about me. That is so much more real than all of the rumors that are designed to orbit me to gain more clicks.” See, Gaga knows that it’s all just drag.