It's all starting to make sense now. The condom suit. The penis heels. The ride on the disco stick. Lady Gaga is arguably the most sexually charged performer on the Top 40, but she wasn't born this way. She got a little help from dear old Dad.
Hold up. This is not a weepy celeb got molested as a child story. There's no hanky panky in the Germanotta household, so you can stop dialing CPS right about ... now and get back to the good Gaga news.
In the same Howard Stern interview where Gaga endeared herself to American parents with a warning to kids not to have sex and do drugs, she revealed that the sexy part of her performances have a root in childhood -- from the stripper her dad hired to teach her to play the piano to his own stories of having wild sex under the boardwalk in New Jersey before Bruce Springsteen shows.
So how is that not creepy? Apparently it wasn't always blatant. For example, he didn't tell her about the piano teacher's other calling until little Stefani was older (leaving her to ask about the teacher's long nails; a little odd for someone who uses her fingers to tickle the ivories).
But each time a little blip comes out about Gaga's past, her wildly eclectic persona seems less wild. Raised in that sort of environment, is it any surprise she sings about leather and S&M, group sex, and bondage? That she's brave enough to be herself, to be honest, to be accepting of a variety of lifestyles? Her shtick is that she likes to shock us, but it's not so shocking when you consider it's how she was raised.
Come on, Little Monsters, let's hear it for Gaga's dad. Without his encouragement, we wouldn't have the free to be you and me performer that we know and love!
Do you think Gaga would be the same Gaga if her dad was more of a prude?
Image via TJ Sengel/Flickr