Why Lady Gaga Needed An On-Set Psychiatric Nurse For House Of Gucci

Lady Gaga at the House of Gucci premiere

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By Richard Milner/Dec. 23, 2021 8:50 am EST

Ridley Scott's "House of Gucci" (2021) has gotten more than its share of mixed reviews since it came out in November. Called an "overstuffed and ungainly" (per Billboard) "fashion catastrophe" (per NYU News) full of "tonal inconsistency" (per Roger Ebert) and all-over-the-place performances, it's left fans unsatisfied and divided except for one element: Lady Gaga. Her "sly elegance, mischief and performance-IQ" (per The Week) coat the film in an "arrabbiata sauce of wit, scorn and style" (per The Guardian) that has already earned Gaga a "Best Actress" award from The New York Film Critics Circle, as the NY Post describes.

Gaga's penchant for pageantry isn't anything new. She's a performance artist first, in the vein of David Bowie, and perfect for the role of "The Black Widow of Milan," the Gucci-slaying Patrizia Reggiani. Relatively new to acting, she's already won a Golden Globe for "American Horror Story" (2016), an Academy Award for "A Star is Born," (2019), and been nominated for a host of other Emmys, BAFTAs, Grammys, and much more, as IMDb depicts.

But as Gaga recently told Variety, her high-caliber performances not only come at a high cost, but from a place of deep trauma. As she's stated publicly, she's the survivor of a rape and pregnancy at age 19 that leaves her with trauma and the need for antipsychotic medication to this day, as Page Six explains. This is why she had a "psychiatric nurse" on hand while filming "House of Gucci," to ensure her psychological safety.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Coping with ongoing sexual assault trauma

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Lady Gaga continued to tell Variety that she didn't reach out to a mental health professional to "glorify" her "commitment to acting." She said, "I don't think that any actor should push themselves to that limit ... I've done some pretty extreme art pieces throughout my career ... I don't know why I'm like that. I think that the best answer I could give you is I have a sort of romantic relationship with suffering for your art that I developed as a young girl, and it just sometimes goes too far. And when it does go too far, it can be hard to reel it in on your own." In the end, she stated, "It's not a secret that I'll do anything for art."

Gaga hopes that coming out about her experience can serve as inspiration for others to seek help. In her interview with Variety, she said, "It's ok to ask for help. If you're feeling like that, ask for help. No matter what."

Page Six describes how, during Gaga's trailblazing "A Star is Born" period several years back, she was undergoing a "total psychotic break" related to her rape and prescription medication. "I didn't know how to even think about it, I didn't know how to accept it, I didn't know how to not blame myself or think it was my fault," she stated. "It was something that really changed my life. It changed who I was completely."