Lady Gaga has been a household name for about 15 years now, earning award after award for her music before making an impressive jump into acting. The singer won an Academy Award for 2018’s A Star Is Born and is now set to hit the 2024 movie calendar as one of the stars of the highly anticipated sequel Joker: Folie à Deux opposite Joaquin Phoenix. Certainly no one’s questioning her fame now, but Gaga posted about a Facebook group that was started by her college peers that could have come straight out of the movie Mean Girls.
The Facebook group, as shared on an Instagram celebrity fan site, was called “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous.” The group, which referenced Lady Gaga’s given name, appeared to be “Closed,” meaning Lady Gaga could see that people were talking about her but could not access the content herself. Years later, she addressed the petty (and undoubtedly hurtful) behavior, writing:
Some people I went to college w made this way back when 👏👏👏 this is why you can’t give up when people doubt you or put you down—gotta keep going.
It’s always disappointing when we see people trying to discourage others from following their dreams, particularly when women feel pitted against each other. Whether the creation of this Facebook group crushed Lady Gaga (I imagine I would have been devastated) or fueled her to work harder, she is certainly enjoying the last laugh.
One has to wonder if this was fresh on the actress’ mind when she continued to give the same answer to questions on the A Star Is Born press tour, saying that “There can be 100 people in the room, and 99 don't believe in you…” She was referencing her co-star Bradley Cooper and the support he showed her, but either way it’s clear that her classmates’ cruel actions have stuck with her all these years, despite her lengthy list of achievements.
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Another image on the post listed those accolades, which include the aforementioned Oscar, which she won for Best Original Song with “Shallow” from A Star Is Born, 13 Grammys, two Golden Globes, and the list goes on and on. It’s kind of hilarious that only 12 people made up the Facebook group that didn’t recognize their peer’s star power, because that technically means each member could hold one of Lady Gaga’s Grammy Awards, and she’d still have one leftover.
Twelve people may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but when you’re 20 years old and talking about classmates or a group that knows you IRL, that's a pretty significant number. Hopefully, Lady Gaga showing that even she had to deal with real-life Regina George will help other aspiring artists push past the negativity and continue to pursue their craft.
I’d also love to know if any of those 12 Facebook users will be in the audience when Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4, or how many of them regularly fire up their Max subscription to watch her Oscar-nominated performance as Ally in A Star Is Born. And, in case anyone is interested, you can also stream both Mean Girls films with a Paramount+ subscription.
