Lady Gaga feared she might never perform again due to painful fibromyalgia

Lady Gaga wears a red dress as she stares over her shoulder at something positioned off camera

Lady Gaga opened up to fans at her London concert about her fears she could “go no more” in her career because of the pain from living with fibromyalgia.

The “Born This Way” singer discussed her health journey during one of her The Chromatica Ball tour performances at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London over the weekend, the Sun reported. 

She reflected on how she had to cancel a large portion of her 2018 tour as a consequence of living with fibromyalgia – also called fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). It is a chronic condition that made Gaga’s theatrical performances, elaborate dance routines and singing painful.

Gaga admitted there was a time she didn’t think she could “be on stage” because her body “couldn’t go no more” as a result of the condition.

“A couple of years ago I was supposed to be here and I couldn’t come,” Gaga said. “We cancelled the Chromatica Ball because there was a global pandemic.”

She continued: “But I’ve got to apologise for something else too. A couple of years before that I had to cancel a show here because I couldn’t go no more.

“And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I missed those shows. But it was because of somebody very special and many people in my life that I have to thank.

“That day that I left London, I never knew I could be on stage with all of you. I didn’t know if I could do it.

“But my sister came into my hotel room, and she looked me in my eye and she said, ‘I can’t see my sister no more’. She can see her sister now.”

Lady Gaga wears a white dress with sparkly gold details as she stands in front of a gold and black background

Lady Gaga reveals that she didn’t know if she could “be on stage” again after cancelling previous performances due to pain from fibromyalgia. (Amy Sussman/WireImage)

In February 2018, Lady Gaga made the “tough decision” to cancel the remaining 10 dates on the European leg of her Joanne World Tour due to “severe pain”. 

Tour promoter Live Nation said in a statement that Gaga was “suffering from severe pain that has materially impacted her ability to perform live”. 

The promoter added the singer was in the “care of expert medical professionals who are working closely with her so she can continue to perform for her fans for years to come”. 

The “Poker Face” singer wrote on Twitter that she was “so devastated” to cancel the performances, but she needed to put her health and wellbeing first. 

“All I know is that if I don’t do this, I am not standing by the words or meaning of my music,” she wrote. “My medical team is supporting the decision for me to recover at home.”

Lady Gaga opened up about living with FMS in her Netflix documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two. The documentary followed her journey to release a new album, prepare for her Super Bowl halftime show and undergo medical procedures to help her deal with the chronic pain she suffered due to the condition. 

Just before the documentary was released in September 2017, Lady Gaga confirmed on Twitter that she lives with the painful condition, which can also cause fatigue, difficulty sleeping and muscle stiffness.

“In our documentary the #chronicillness #chronicpain I deal w/ is #Fibromyalgia I wish to help raise awareness & connect people who have it,” she wrote

She continued on stage: “When I wrote this record I was sitting on my porch all f***ing day.

Lady Gaga told her London fans that she was sitting on her “porch all f***ing day” when she wrote her record. She recalled how her friends used to encourage her to leave the porch and record a dance record.

“When I wrote this record, I didn’t want to make a dance record because I was f***ing sad,” she said.

She continued: “But my friends told me to make it a dance record — and we did.

“So if you’re wondering why there’s 60ft f***ing flames on this stage, it’s because what this stage really is, is a big representation of that f***ing porch that I sat on for 365 days a year feeling sorry for myself.

“And I wanted to burn that f***ing porch.”

 

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