Now, Gaga has opened up to Variety about how she sought mental health care during the making of the film, and was aided by an on-set psychiatric nurse as production neared its end. “I had a psychiatric nurse with me towards the end of filming,” she said, adding, “I sort of felt like I had to. I felt that it was safer for me.” That’s because I was always Patrizia. I always spoke in my accent. And even if I was speaking about things that weren’t related to the movie — I wasn’t pretending that Maurizio [her husband played by Adam Driver] was waiting for me downstairs — I was still living my life. I just lived it as her.”
Gaga added, “I brought the darkness with me home because her life was dark.” Gaga said she was compelled to share this new information not to “glorify” her craft, but because “I don’t think that any actor should push themselves to that limit. And I ask myself all the time why I do that. I’ve done some pretty extreme art pieces throughout my career — the things I’ve put my body through, my mind. It’s like a walnut of sadness in my stomach as I say this to you. I don’t know why I’m like that. I think that the best answer I could give you is I have a sort of romantic relationship with suffering for your art that I developed as a young girl, and it just sometimes goes too far. And when it does go too far, it can be hard to reel it in on your own.” Gaga, who just won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and is now a Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominee, said “It’s not a secret that I’ll do anything for art. I probably will completely change this when I have a child, but I don’t have a child yet. I want to be available and present for my children in a way that I think when you are acting in that way, it could be problematic for a child to be around.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
