CULTURE

Lady Gaga Confirms She’s Engaged to Christian Carino

“Let’s work together to beckon the world towards kindness.”

Oct. 16, 2018

Lady Gaga Opens Up About Sexual Assault and Mental Health in Vulnerable ELLE Women in Hollywood Acce...

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Lady Gaga and her boyfriend of almost two years, talent agent Christian Carino, are officially engaged. The A Star Is Bornactress confirmed the news at Elle‘s Women in Hollywood in Los Angeles Monday night (October 15) when she referred to Carino as her “fiancé” during a speech.

Gaga touched on other things during her speech, too, like why she chose to wear an oversized Marc Jacobs men’s suit to the Elle event as opposed to one of the several dresses she tried on. “This was an oversized men’s suit made for a woman. Not a gown. And then I began to cry. In this suit, I felt like me today. In this suit, I felt the truth of who I am well up in my gut. And then wondering what I wanted to say tonight become very clear to me,” she said. “As a sexual assault survivor by someone in the entertainment industry, as a woman who is still not brave enough to say his name, as a woman who lives with chronic pain, as a woman who was conditioned at a very young age to listen to what men told me to do, I decided today I wanted to take the power back. Today, I wear the pants.”

The pop singer expanded on her experiences with sexual assault, telling the audience, “After I was assaulted when I was 19, I changed forever. Part of me shut down for many years. I didn’t tell anyone. I avoided it myself. And felt shame. Even still today standing in front of you, I feel shame for what happened to me. I still have days where I feel like it was my fault. After I shared what happened to me with very powerful men in this industry, nobody helped me. No one offered me guidance or a helping hand to lead me to a place where I felt justice, they didn’t even point me in the direction of the mental health assistance I was in dire need of. Those men hid because they were afraid of losing their power. And because they hid, I began to hide.”

Gaga explained that she hid for many years, until she began to feel physical pain from it. She went to a doctor and was diagnosed with PTSD and fibromyalgia. “Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, trauma—these are just a few examples of the forces that can lead to this tornado of pain,” she said. “So what I would like to say in this room of powerful women and men today is, let’s work together to beckon the world towards kindness. I’m fortunate enough now to have the resources to help me. But for many, the resources either don’t exist or people don’t have the ability to pay for or access them. I want to see mental health become a global priority. We’re not able to control all of the challenges and tragedies that life throws our way. But we can work together. This room can work together to heal each other. And we can also try to find the strength in the best way that we can to ask for help if we need it.”

She ended on an inspiring note: “Let’s lift our voices. I know we are, but let’s get louder. And not just as women, but as humans. And see that there are great men in the world. And ask them to hold our hands. For justice. That our voices be heard. Whatever our story may be. For an equal standing. We will fight for justice for women and men and those with other sexual identities. For me, this is what it means to be a woman in Hollywood. It means I have a platform. I have a chance to make a change. I pray we listen and believe and pay closer attention to those around us to those in need,” she said. “Be a helping hand. Be a force for change.”