I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Parents searching for a good role model for their teens could do a lot worse than Lady Gaga. And if that hasn't already thrown you for a loop, this may: It was the head of the Little Monsters' appearance on the Howard Stern Show this week that hammers home just how much her young fans can learn from her.
The 25-year-old confessed on MTV earlier this year that she was another one of the 77 percent of American kids who is bullied every year. In putting a delicate part of her childhood out there for the sake of America's kids, she gave them a touchstone, much as she has for gay kids with her It Gets Better videos and her efforts to fight corporate and governmental homophobia.
This week Gaga was honest once again (refreshing in Hollywood, I have to say) on Stern about her past. She's tried drugs, she said, and it was the worst decision of her life. And then she let Stern have it:
I love you and I respect this show and I know you want to talk about sex and cocaine and all of that, but the truth is I don't want anyone doing drugs, a, and b, honestly you should wait as long as you can to have sex, because as a woman you don't even begin to enjoy it until your mid-20s. When you're 17, you don't even know how to operate what's going on down there and you shouldn't try.
Let's face it, a parent says that to a kid, and it goes in one ear and out the other (which, ahem, doesn't mean you shouldn't keep repeating it until you're blue in the face ... caring parents go a long way toward keeping their kids clean!). Coming from Gaga, on the other hand, a woman who is making millions of dollars, a woman who marches to the beat of her own drummer and is successful at it, and it's a message that can hit home. She's not some big shot adult coming down on them like a ton of bricks; she's just like them ... and she cares enough to keep our kids safe.
Every time I hear someone comparing Gaga to Madonna, this is where I see the difference. Both women have been cutting edge, ahead of their time, phenomenal at marketing themselves. But where Madonna has always been out for herself, Lady Gaga is out there for her fans ... for the Little Monsters, for our kids. Check out her whole interview with Stern:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Would you recommend your teen look at Gaga's life? Do you think she's a good role model for kids?
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