Lady Gaga gave a speech at a Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence event at the end of October and talked very candidly about being a celebrity and how that has influenced her struggle with depression.

“I invented myself, Lady Gaga—I curated my life to be an expression of my pain. This is how I overcame my depression, is by creating somebody that I felt was stronger than me. But…nothing was able to fix how I was genetically made. I was born this way. No matter how much success you have, no matter how many opportunities, fame, fortune—no matter how many people accept you, to your face, the person that really needs to accept you is you.”

The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Born This Way Foundation hosted 200 teens, academic officials, and top policy makers from across the United States at the daylong summit to talk about feelings, and ways to recognize and channel emotions for positive outcomes.

 

It was a better partnership than the average person might realize. The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence conducts research on emotions, emotional intelligence, and it develops ways to teach emotional intelligence in school systems and other organizations.

Gaga has always been very open with her Monsters about her ongoing battle with depression, and her Born This Way Foundation, created by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, tries its best to help others with their battle.

These powerhouses working together made for a pretty powerful discussion.

You can watch the entire 19 minute one-on-one with Mama Monster here: