Lady Gaga's Most Powerful Moments
There are a million reasons to love Lady Gaga. For one, her music resonates with so many of her fans; its messages of empowerment, self-love, and embracing who you are are hard to ignore, and even harder to not be affected by. She’s also a fashion and beauty icon, a seriously talented actress, and an all-around badass.
But one of the greatest things about Mother Monster is the way she mobilizes her platform as a celebrity to speak out about the issues that are affecting the world today. Gaga, with her huge fan base, has one of the loudest microphones on the planet, and she uses it – often. She isn’t afraid to get involved, and her passion for activism is continuously evident — just take these moments Lady Gaga inspired us to try to change the world for example.
Getty Images1/9Let’s talk about her Super Bowl performance.
A few months ago, Lady Gaga took the stage during halftime at the Super Bowl in a truly epic performance. And although some people tried to claim that she “didn’t get political” during her set, the fact that she performed “Born This Way” – an LGBTQ anthem – is super political. In fact, she is likely the first person to ever say the word “transgender” during a Super Bowl performance, which is a huge deal in light of the fact that there’s an ongoing battle for transgender rights in our country. The songs she chose to perform on one of the biggest stages of the world matter, and speak to how she uses her performances to get people’s attentions — and get them talking.
2/9Lady Gaga does a ton of charity work aimed at helping young people, particularly LGBTQ youth, and she even has her own charity called The Born This Way Foundation.
Mother Monster launched the Born This Way Foundation in 2012 with the help of her mother, Cynthia Germanotta. The organization is dedicated to improving the wellness of young people through empowerment, creating positive school climates, and fighting bullying. In addition to providing students with tools for spreading awareness and acceptance in their own schools, the BTW Foundation’s website contains a wealth of resources for anyone dealing with bullying, drug and alcohol issues, dating violence, or sexual abuse. In addition to her work with Born This Way, Gaga has been involved with groups such as the It Gets Better Project and The Trevor Project. Both groups aim to support and empower LGBTQ youth.
3/9She’s not here for body-shamers, whether directed at herself, or anyone else.
After people online criticized her “belly” during her Super Bowl performance, Gaga responded with a confident Instagram post. “I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I'm proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too,” she wrote. “No matter who you are or what you do.”
Later, during an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Gaga explained that she “couldn’t ignore it” when she saw those mean comments. “I think other people maybe that are just like normal girls and guys who either have their own body image issues or just didn’t think it was a nice thing to say [were upset],” she explained. “I just thought I would impart some of my positive attitude about it so that they felt like they had someone who was strong on their side.”
Getty Images4/9She takes action after significant world issues.
After the horrific shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Lady Gaga spoke at a vigil during LA Pride. In addition to reading the names of those who were killed during the shooting, she notably said: “This is an attack on humanity itself. This is an attack on everyone.” It was clear from the tears in her eyes that Gaga was deeply affected by this event, as it was an explicit attack on the LGBTQ community.
Getty Images5/9Gaga was really involved in the 2016 election.
Lady Gaga campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, using social media to encourage others to vote for the Democratic candidate. She was in attendance at Clinton’s final rally in North Carolina, where she took the stage to perform songs such as “Angel Down” and “Born This Way.” Gaga was also present at Clinton’s election night event in New York City. And when the election was over, she made an extremely powerful statement. Before the sun had come up on November 9, Lady Gaga joined other protesters outside of Trump Tower where she was famously photographed holding a “Love Trumps Hate” sign, staring blankly into the camera. She later shared the photo on social media, writing, “I want to live in a #CountryOfKindness.”
6/9And she knows how to provide support when other people need it most.
Celebrity drama can sometimes come with the territory of being famous, but Lady Gaga seems to always go out of her way to show love and support to her fellow stars. Throughout Kesha’s legal battle with Dr. Luke, Gaga has been there for the singer, even going so far as to urge Sony to drop the producer from their label. And at the American Music Awards last year, Lady Gaga shared a photo on Instagram while hugging Selena Gomez, who had just given an immensely powerful speech about overcoming hardship.
Getty Images7/9She uses her platform to help uplift survivors of sexual assault.
At the 2016 Oscars, Lady Gaga gave an emotional performance of her song “Til It Happens To You,” which she had co-written for the film The Hunting Ground. During the song, she brought other survivors of sexual assault onstage with her; each person had words written on their arms, like “not my fault,” signaling a mantra.
Gaga has also been open about her own assault, in turn, helping others come forward with their stories. After her performance, the singer-songwriter got matching tattoos with the other survivors who joined her onstage in a sign of solidarity and strength.
8/9And she's been vocal about mental health and has played a role in trying to end stigma.
Lady Gaga doesn’t hold back when it comes to talking about mental health. Recently, she opened up about dealing with both depression and anxiety, explaining that she needed to take some time off from working on her album to focus on her health. She’s also recently shared that she experiences PTSD, explaining that she believes “one way to help people that have trauma is to inject them with as many positive thoughts as possible.” One of the best ways of combatting stigma with regard to mental illness is simply by talking about it more and more. By starting a conversation, Gaga continues to inspire her fans and other people around the world to open up about their own experiences. The more we talk about and normalize mental illness, the less people have to feel alone.
