Quotables: Cocaine Was Lady Gaga’s Only Friend

“I was very depressed when I was 19. I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I began to cherish my loneliness. I would go back to my apartment every day and I would just sit there. It was quiet and it was lonely. It was still. It was just my piano and myself. I had at television and I would leave it on all the time just to feel like somebody was hanging out with me. … I started doing cocaine because it was like the drug was my friend. I never did it with other people. It’s such a terrible way to fill that void, because it just adds to that void, because it’s not real. I woke up one day and was like, ‘You’re an a**hole. You’re not an artist. If you were a real f***ing artist, you’d be focused on your music. You wouldn’t be spending your money on the white devil.’”

Lady Gaga, in an interview with Amanda de Cadanet’s The Conversation, on riding the big white L-train.

The thing is, I can completely see this. And while some people would think that Lady Gaga would be making this shit up for shock value or sympathy or to induce distaste, I think it’s just the reality of the situation. I’m not a big Lady Gaga fan at all (in fact, I’ll go as far as to say that her general schtick and her music are probably the furthest thing from what I’m into), but I respect her for talking this way and not glamorizing her former (?) drug use like so many artists before her have. I know girl’s got this cult-like following that probably already knew all of these deep, dark secrets, but I’m not privy to that information partially because I don’t go looking for it, and partially because come on. What internationally-famous musician hasn’t dabbled in some kind of drug or alcohol in their careers (Taylor Swift doesn’t count)?

Are you guys watching the Conversation, anyway? It’s an interesting little business they’ve got going on over there.