Lady Gaga
Needed Lithium For ‘Star Is Born’ …
Suffered Breakdown on Tour
Published November 13, 2025 10:16 AM PST
Lady Gaga put on a brave face for the cameras while shooting “A Star Is Born” … even as she was dealing with issues so serious she needed psychiatric medication to handle them.
The singer-songwriter discussed this difficult chapter in her life during an interview with Rolling Stone … telling the outlet she was taking lithium — a mood stabilizer — while filming her Oscar-nominated turn in the 2019 film.
It’s unclear why Gaga needed the medication … but, shortly after filming wrapped, she says she had to put her “Joanne” world tour on hiatus after suffering what the magazine calls a “psychotic break.”
Gaga says her sister told her she didn’t even recognize her anymore … leading to Gaga canceling the tour so she could simply focus on her own mental well-being. She says she even needed to go into a hospital to receive psychiatric care at one point.
The star explains during this period she just “crashed. It was really scary. There was a time where I didn’t think I could get better.… I feel really lucky to be alive. I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”
Gaga’s certainly rebounded from these struggles … taking the world by storm with her “Mayhem” world tour — and, she’s up for 7 Grammy awards in next year’s ceremony.
