I don't know what kind of struggles she's had in her life (if any)
Pretty much none - at least until she got famous which brings a unique set of problems with it. I mean if you are talking about being born this way, she was. Born to be Lady Gaga.
She self-taught herself by ear to play pianio. At age 4. Needless to say her family, while not rich, was well off enough to have a piano at home so that could happen. By the time she was 10 she was so good that she had been accepted at Julliard, but decided not to go and continued at the Convent of the Sacred Heart THE Catholic girls school in NYC, while starting to perform in the fringe NYC scene.
"I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to Black Sabbath and singing songs about oral sex. The kids would scream and cheer and then we'd all go grab a beer. It represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself."
Reminds me of the John Waters quote: I'm glad I was raised Catholic because sex is still dirty to me.
She graduated and went to the very prestigious New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and did a year before leaving, because she said she knew what she wanted to do, and how to do it.
Here she is performing (pre-Gaga) at the Tisch School.
"I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate >-bleeped-< until somebody would listen." She did a bit at Def Jam records, then worked with RedOne doing a kind of apprenticeship in writing pop stuff (for Brittney, New Kids on the Block and Fergie), and the marketing and media relations and all that star making machinery.
What makes her so amazing - at least to me - is that she can bring a level of production and staging that is pretty much beyond what anyone else is doing, and in doing that it only enhances her, rather than it swallowing her and the music up, which is what it does to most people. This is where most of mainstream America first saw her on the 2010 Grammy Awards, with her sidekick Elton John. I mean how freaking great do you have to be to get Elton John to vamp with you, using his signature hit even? As he sings, a wonderful life is with Gaga in the world.
Chris Rock (who is one smart dude) said: "Well, she's Lady Gaga," he said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?"
And I love the quote: I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate >-bleeped-< until somebody would listen. Success, whether it be fame or simply living the life you want takes work, lots of effort and its never easy. So follow her advice, leave your comfort, quit taking the easy choices, get out and eat some >-bleeped-<, hell, eat a lot of >-bleeped-< and know that the way ain't easy, but it is worth it. That's the struggle, to step out into the real world and become yourself.
