Lady Gaga Opens Up About Depression and Anxiety

Lady Gaga has taken on many new roles since she first hit the pop scene, but one thing that hasn’t changed is her focus on helping her fans.

The “Born This Way” singer, who started a nonprofit in 2012 for struggling teens called the Born This Way Foundation, opened up to Billboard about her difficulties with depression and anxiety, offering up a message of hope for those going through something similar.

“There is something in the way that we are now, with our cell phones and people are not looking at each other and not being in the moment with each other, that kids feel isolated,” she said. “They read all of this extremely hateful language on the Internet. The Internet is a toilet. It is. It used to be a fantastic resource—but you have to sort through shit to find the good stuff.”

She said her foundation is researching why people feel sad when they’re looking at their phones all day.

“I’ve suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, I still suffer with it every single day. I just want these kids to know that that depth that they feel as human beings is normal. We were born that way. This modern thing, where everyone is feeling shallow and less connected? That‘s not human.”