Lady Gaga is 40!
The Grammy winner is celebrating her milestone birthday on March 28, 2026, and will be on the road, as she heads to Boston, Massachusetts, for March 29 and March 30 performances of her Mayhem Ball Tour.
From her go-go dancing beginnings to her infamous meat dress and dozens of awards, Us Weekly broke down some fun facts about the “Abracadabra” singer in our latest issue, on newsstands now.
Keep scrolling for 25 Things You Don’t Know About Lady Gaga:
1. Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York City on March 28, 1986.
2. Her stage name is a nod to Queen’s hit song, “Radio Ga Ga.”
3. Gaga’s second middle name comes from her late aunt, Joanne Germanotta, who inspired the singer’s fourth solo studio album, Joanne.
4. She went to Convent of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls private Catholic school, with Nicky Hilton. (Paris Hilton also attended, but she’s five years older than Gaga.)
5. Gaga studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts until she dropped out to pursue music in 2005.
6. Legendary vocal coach Don Lawrence’s nephew heard Gaga singing at a boutique when she was 13 and insisted his uncle take her on. He remains her vocal coach to this day.
Lady Gaga performs at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Christopher Polk/Getty Images
7. Gaga appeared in a season 3 episode of The Sopranos when she was 15, portraying “Girl at Swimming Pool #2.”
8. While she was at NYU, her classmates created a Facebook group titled, “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous,” which she addressed in 2024, writing, “This is why you can’t give up when people doubt you or put you down.”
9. Gaga got her start go-go dancing and performing in NYC clubs, where she would bring her demo and pretend to be her own manager, asking for the best time slot to play.
10. Before Akon signed her to his label in 2008, she was working as a songwriter, creating hits for Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and New Kids on the Block.
11. She wrote her 2008 hit “Just Dance” in just five minutes, admitting, “I was quite hungover.”
12. Gaga infamously wore a dress made entirely of raw beef to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, where she took home prizes in eight categories.
Lady Gaga at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards Kevin Winter/Getty Images
13. The singer once said she performs without pants so her grandmother, who had poor vision, could “make out the lighter parts like her skin and hair” when watching her on TV.
14. Gaga dyed her hair to her signature platinum blonde after being repeatedly mistaken for Amy Winehouse.
15. She recorded two collaborative jazz albums with Tony Bennett before his 2023 death: Cheek to Cheek (2014) and Love for Sale (2021).
16. Gaga refers to her fans as “Little Monsters.”
17. She is the godmother of Elton John’s sons, Zachary and Elijah.
18. She took home her first Grammy in 2010, winning Best Electronic/Dance album for The Fame and Best Dance Recording for “Poker Face.”
19. At the 2019 Academy Awards, Gaga won Best Original Song for A Star Is Born’s “Shallow.” She was also nominated for Best Actress for her performance in the film.
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in ‘A Star Is Born’ Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
20. Gaga headlined the Super Bowl LI halftime show in 2017, a feat which was documented in her Netflix film, Gaga: Five Foot Two.
21. To date, Gaga has 16 Grammy wins from 45 nominations.
22. She became the first woman to ever win an Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA and Golden Globe in the same year during her awards run for A Star is Born.
23. The singer launched Haus Labs, a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand, in 2019.
24. She took a method acting approach to her role of Patrizia Reggiani in the 2021 film House of Gucci, speaking with an Italian accent around the clock.
25. Gaga once told British Vogue if she wasn’t a singer, she’d be a combat journalist.
