Glamour Magazine is honoring its Women Of The Year in the December issue (on stands November 5th). Among those honored is singer Lady Gaga – who landed the cover, too.
The magazine had Bravo’s Andy Cohen interview Gaga for the issue and he got her to open about everything from beauty to her fans and her foundation.
Glamour shares why they chose her, “There are pop stars and there are rock stars—but there’s only one Lady Gaga. Prolific, polarizing, and passionate in the extreme, the Grammy winner formerly known as Stefani Germanotta has molded herself into an icon in just a few short years. But her proudest achievement? She made the world a more tolerant place. For these reasons and more, Glamour is proud to honor her as a 2013 Woman of the Year.”
On her confidence:
“…I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.”
On whether she considers herself to be beautiful:
“Not conventionally beautiful. If there was some sort of mathematical equation for beauty, I don’t know if I would be the algorithm. I’ve always been OK with that. I’m not a supermodel. That’s not what I do. What I do is music. I want my fans to feel the way I do, to know what they have to offer is just as important, more important, than what’s happening on the outside.”
On why being beautiful causes her to layer all those costumes:
“Because it can actually get in the way. So in some ways, the outfits—these creations are because I don’t want to face the reality of what people want from a female pop star. Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what’s underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don’t think it ever will be.”
On being an artist:
“I’m quite excited to get into an artistic conversation. An artist is the only thing I want to be. I only want my freedom and my creativity. It’s all that I live for. I reject the idea that I have to take all [the costumes and makeup] off to be f–king authentic.”
On whether she is Gaga or Stefani when she’s at home:
“I’m both all the time. Gaga and Stefani are my nicknames. I guess when people meet me for the first time and call me Stefani, it bothers me. Because it’s something that’s reserved for only the people who are closest to me. It’s not because I don’t like my given name; it’s that I became somebody else. I became somebody else for a reason, you know. This is part of what my message is—you can become whoever you want to be, to escape your past.”
On her Born This Way Foundation:
“The foundation is everything that I’ve ever believed in. My ambition was never to rule the world. It was always to change the world. And once I started to become more and more successful, this voice in the back of my mind was telling me to make sure that I staked my claim as a person. The Born This Way Foundation isn’t about money at all. It’s about communities, people coming together. It’s about kids telling their stories to one another, and finding a sense of home by breeding compassion, making it cool to be that kind of person. I truly believe that people can find a happier way, if they are aware of the stories of people around them—people who share similar challenges and similar fears.”
The Glamour Women Of The Year awards ceremony will be held November 11th in NYC.
Photo Credit: Patrick DeMarchelier
