Lady Gaga Recalls Being Bullied, Feeling 'Ugly' & How She Coped With Pain

Lady Gaga is opening up about the growing pains of her youth.

Beautiful, angelic, divine — these are all notably obvious ways to define the pop icon we've come to call Mother Monster. So it hurts us to know the "Born This Way" singer ever felt anything less than, let alone that she was bullied at an early age.

The Grammy winner made the sad revelation while speaking about her role as an anxious aspiring singer in the upcoming film, A Star Is Born, at the Toronto Film Festival Friday (September 14). For us, the part seems a far cry from the musician we notice today, however, Gaga admits she and her onscreen character are very much alike.

“When I did not believe in myself, when I was bullied in school, I felt ugly, and my only escape was music and that’s why I started to sing and write songs and act," Gaga told Variety at the event. "It was because I wanted an escape from all of that pain. Little Stefani right now, she’s very humbled and she’s very surprised.”

The movie follows Ally, timid yet greatly talented vocalist, as she comes to fall in love with an aging singer-songwriter (portrayed by Bradley Cooper) who takes her under his wing.

The Joanne artist has spoken openly of her insecurities and toiled rise to stardom in the past. “When I started out in the music industry and decided to be a singer … I was not the most beautiful girl in the room," she said in a press conference at the Venice Film Festival.

"[Producers] wanted to take my songs and give it to other singers but (…) I held on to them. They made suggestions about how I should look. … but I didn’t want to be viewed like other women, be sexy like other women. I wanted to have my own vision.”

A Star Is Born hits theaters October 5. You can hear snippets to four songs from the film here.

Photo: Getty Images