While speaking at a conference for women in Los Angeles this week, Lady Gaga shared about a long stint with bulimia as a teen.

Speaking at the Young Women’s “It’s Our Turn” conference held at the posh Brentwood School, “Mother Monster” says was obsessed with the desire to achieve a “skinny ballerina body.” Gaga told the girls in attendance she spent much of her high school career throwing up because she hated her curves which were partially a result of the hearty, homecooked meals her Italian father used to serve her.

“I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I’m not that confident. I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night.

“I used to come home and say, ‘Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.’ And he’d say, ‘Eat your spaghetti.’ It’s really hard, but you’ve got to talk to somebody about it.”

Even though bulimia helped her achieve the skinnier body she wanted so badly, it was hell on her voice. All of the stomach acids from the forced vomiting brought havoc on her voice so she stopped. “It made my voice bad, so I had to stop. The acid on your vocal chords—it’s very bad,” she revealed.

While her body is trim and taut nowadays, Gaga expressed her ongoing battle with her physical image. “Weight is still a struggle. Every video I’m in, every magazine cover, they stretch you—they make you perfect. It’s not real life.

“I’m gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it’s affecting kids your age. And it’s making girls sick.”

Bookmark to: