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Lady Gaga's Dad Thought She Had A 'Screw Loose' The First Time He Saw Her Perform In A Bikini

Photo credit: Kevin Mazur - Getty Images
Photo credit: Kevin Mazur - Getty Images

From Women's Health

Was it just me, or did A Star Is Born make you wonder about Lady Gaga's backstory—not just her character's? Turns out, Lady Gaga—winner of Grammy's, Oscars, and Golden Globes—had a pretty normal childhood growing up in Manhattan, with two parents who were successful businesspeople.

Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986, Lady Gaga lived with her parents and younger sister Natali on the Upper West Side until she started attending New York University and moved into a one-bedroom on Stanton Street.

According to New York Magazine, the Germanotta family lived on "one of the eclectic blocks between Columbus and Amsterdam in the West Seventies that are a mix of prewar brownstones, tenements, and modern condos."

Lady Gaga's mother, Cynthia Germanotta, is a telecommunications executive turned mental-health advocate.

According to New York, She attended West Virginia University and received a masters degree from George Washington University, in public administration. She's had a long career at Verizon.

In 2017, Cynthia and Gaga launched the Born This Way Foundation, which partners with the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the MacArthur Foundation, and the California Endowment to Empower Youth. The foundation is a mentorship program, has a self-confidence initiative, and aims to combat bullying.

Her father, Joseph Germanotta, is an Internet entrepreneur.

Joe is originally from New Jersey and attended Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Now, he is the president of Guest WiFi, which is one of the world's largest providers of wifi to hotels and hospitality establishments, again, according to New York.

His sister Joanne, the namesake for Gaga's middle name (as well as her album Joanne and the family's restaurant—more on that below) passed away from lupus in 1974.

Gaga attended Sacred Heart prep school.

She was one of the only girls at school with a job, and worked at a UWS diner. "Some had extreme wealth, others were on welfare and scholarship, and some were in the middle, which was my family. All our money went into education and the house,” she told New York.

At 15, Gaga says she dated a 26-year-old waiter at the restaurant. “That’s part of why I needed a job after school, too,” she told the magazine. “My dad wouldn’t give me money to go out on the weekends because he knew I was going downtown and being bad.”

During her childhood, Lady Gaga says her parents tried to keep her grounded. "My mom and dad were not buying me a $600 purse,” she told New York.

Her mother signed Gaga up for piano lessons when she was 4 years old.

“She learned to play piano by ear at home when she was really young," Cynthia told InStyle. "One day I said, ‘Do you want to take some lessons?’ She was a little bit confused by that because she said that she heard the music in her head. She didn’t understand why she had to take a lesson. That was a defining moment because I knew there was something different about her at that point. I didn’t know what it would lead to, but I realized that there was something more there.”

The Germanottas are restauranteurs, too.

In 2012, the Germanottas opened Joanne Trattoria near Lincoln Center, a low-key Italian spot run by cookbook author Art Smith. “My dad and I opened up a restaurant together,” Gaga told Katie Couric in an ABC interview. Gaga isn't technically an owner, according to the New York Times. "If they’re expecting to come in here and see Grammys and pictures and stuff like that, it’s not going to happen," Mr. Germanotta told the Times.

When Gaga first launched her performing persona, her parents had some questions.

"When Gaga started emerging, when she was performing I think it was at Joe's Pub downtown, and she was in her bikini performing with Lady Starlight, and decided that night to heavy-metal, to actually light hairspray on fire," Cindy told Oprah. "Some people left when that happened, a lot of people stayed and thought it was cool. Her father and I were like—honestly, he said, 'I think she has a screw loose.'"

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