I’ll admit it. I was never a huge fan of Lady Gaga. As a girl growing up idolizing Madonna, I saw her as trying to be like my idol. Her songs were similar, she liked to push buttons with society and her outfits were just as outrageous as Madonna’s. “Can’t you be yourself and not copy the Queen of Pop?” I used to say to myself.
My perception of Gaga all changed today.
Her recent weight gain of 25 pounds has been a top trending topic for the media recently. She attributed it to her love of pasta (ditto!) and the fact that her father owns an Italian restaurant where one just can’t resist the food placed in front of you.
Instead of being a typical celebrity that engages in war with the press or sues the publications for the misleading photos of her weight gain, she took matters into her own hands.
She took half-naked photos of herself, with only a matching yellow thong and bra to boot, and posted it online in her own social media community named Little Monsters in a new subsection called Body Revolution.
Along with these photos she wrote:
Bulimia and Anorexia since I was 15.
But today I join the BODY REVOLUTION.
To Inspire Bravery.
and BREED some m$therf*cking COMPASSION.
You know what happened next?
Within hours, thousands of her community members (aka Little Monsters) were posting photos of themselves with scars from their mastectomies, cancer operations and open heart surgeries; amputees showing their true self with images of their bodies; cutters displaying their wounds; individuals suffering from anorexia and bulimia sharing photos of themselves looking in the mirror. The list goes on.
What Lady Gaga did was remarkable: she took a personally crappy situation and turned it into a source of empowerment.
Yes, this is me. Exposed. I Am Brave. Be Compassionate.
What it fueled in people was the notion of, “there is someone else out there like me. I am not alone. I don’t have to hide. I have permission to show my true self”, followed by bravely sharing photos of who they really are and writing about their experience.
Life-changing.
Genius.
In today’s era of social media, celebrities are taught to share more of themselves in order to build trust and loyalty amongst their fans. Gone are the days of being mysterious and unapproachable to sell your brand. Lady Gaga takes this concept to a whole new level. With a record 30 million twitter followers, she is not just an icon who fans want to touch, be and look like. That’s old school mystery mentality. She has ingeniously crafted a world of followers who follow her because they are empowered by her authenticity. She is adamant that she is exactly like everyone else and is simply the catalyst for inspiring bravery in others.
I am amazed by her genuineness and am a converted fan. Gaga may have learned a thing or two from Madonna about singing, dancing and being provocative. Maybe it’s time Madonna learned something from Stefani Germanotta, the human being that is Lady Gaga.