Lady Gaga laid out what being a woman in the modern world means to her in a new essay.
“Being a lady today means being a fighter. It means being a survivor,” Gaga wrote for Harper’s Bazaar. “It means letting yourself be vulnerable and acknowledging your shame or that you’re sad or you’re angry. It takes great strength to do that.”
The singer and actress also discussed her mother and grandmother, citing them as the two most powerful and important women in her life.
“I look at my mother and the way she has loved my father through his pain, and I look at my grandmothers and what they’ve been through–the three of them are like a trifecta of strength,” she said. “Health, happiness, love — these are the things that are at the heart of a great lady, I think. That’s the kind of lady I want to be.”
She then went on to describe her relationship with fame and music and how they have shaped her world view over the course of her life.
“I turned 30 this year, and I’m a fully formed woman,” she said. “I have a clear perspective on what I want. That, for me, is success. I want to be somebody who is fighting for what’s true–not for more attention, more fame, more accolades.”
She closed the essay with a shocking admission. “You know, I never thought I’d say this, but isn’t it time to take off the corsets? As someone who loves them, I think it’s time to take them off.”