Lady Gaga breaks down how PTSD affects her life in a poignant letter
Just after Lady Gaga revealed that she lives with post traumatic stress disorder, she shared a powerful letter about how mental illness affects her daily life and what she's doing to work through it.
"This is how I and we can begin to heal," writes Gaga on her Born This Way Foundation's website. "I am starting today, because secrets keep you sick."
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In 2014, the singer told Howard Stern that a record producer raped her when she was 19-years-old. She's been struggling with PTSD since then, and she recently opened up about the diagnosis for the first time while talking to a group of young people at the Ali Forney Center in New York, which provides services for LGBTQ youth.
In the letter, Gaga explains the trauma can make everything from taking a shower to interacting with well-meaning fans challenging. She also breaks down her body's biological reactions and the disassociate symptoms that disconnect her body from her mind.
She encourages fans who might be going through something similar to seek professional help and reach out to loved ones for support, "No one’s invisible pain should go unnoticed."
Read the powerful letter in full below:
