Gaga’s University Peers Had A FB Group Dedicated To Shaming Her For Trying To Be Famous

One of the things that A Star is Born has taught me is that no one becomes great without going through some sort of adversity. And this story from Lady Gaga’s personal life only proves it. When she was only starting out her career, her haters created a Facebook group called “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous.” Recently, people found out about this secret little (and I mean little) community, and immediately fell in love with the irony of it.

Image credits: majdgeorge98

Another woman, Lauren Bohn, was a freshman at NYC when she spotted the group. She brought it to media’s attention in 2016 with a powerful Facebook post:

“When I was a freshman at NYU and Facebook was only a year old and people created/joined groups like “I have dimples, f*** me” and “Fake ID, please!,”

I remember coming across a Facebook group that broke my heart

It’s name: “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous.” The page housed pictures of a pretty Norah Jones-esque young 18-year-old NYU student who sang and played piano at local bars. The group was peppered with comments, sharp as porcupine needles, vilifying the aspiring musician for being an “attention-whore.” Scores asked: “Who does she think she is?” I also remember one dude posting a flyer for one of her upcoming gigs at a local village bar. He had clearly stomped on the flyer, an outline of his muddy sole [soul] struggling to eclipse her name.

I couldn’t shake the raw feeling of filth while scrolling down that Facebook page

but I pretty much — and quickly — forgot about that group and that girl with the intense raven eyes. Until about five years later. I was on an Amtrak train from NYC to Philly, reading a Vanessa Grigoriadis New York Magazine profile on Lady Gaga. I floated somewhat mindlessly through the piece until I got to the first sentence of the second graf:

“Before the meeting, I assumed that someone with a stage name like “Lady” (her given name is Stefani Joanne Germanotta) was going to be a bit standoffish…” HOLY S**T, I screamed to an empty car (Those who hang with me will know that I actually shrieked). LADY GAGA IS STEFANI GERMANOTTA? STEFANI IS LADY GAGA? I was overcome with a dizzying emotional cocktail of stage-mom-at-a-beauty-pageant and nerd-revenge triumph. But also shame. Shame that I never wrote on that group

Shame that I never defended the girl with the intense raven eyes

— the girl whose brave flyers were stomped on, probably somewhere near my dorm. But again, I soon forgot about that revelation and that feeling. Feelings. They’re so fleeting. Even more so, revelations. We need to constantly re-discover them every damn day. Like last week, when I woke up to this meme. I saw the muddy sole eclipsing her name. The eye-rolls. The cowardly virtual-giggles. The “Who does she think she is?”

I’ve got a lot of feelings, but the easiest one to articulate: gratitude

Stefani, thank you. Thank you for always thinking you’re a superstar, for using your cracks to let the light come out more brightly. Humans, let’s follow suit.”