Lady Gaga gets best possible revenge on ex-classmates who bullied her with a Facebook group.

Bronwyn Isacc
05.08.19
via Shutterstock

We've all heard the saying "haters make me famous," but few celebrities have lived that truth as precisely as Lady Gaga.

While it's well-known by now that she believes you just need one person in a room of 100 to believe in you, this mantra isn't just PR positivity, but comes from personal experience.

During her early college years at NYU, when Gaga was regularly performing at local bars, she had a loyal crew of haters. As many college students do, NYU students created a crop of small and niche Facebook groups dedicated to everything from eyebrows to music swapping.

However, one very small and pointed group was dedicated to trash talking Gaga, then known by her real name, Stefani Germanotta.

Members of the group, titled "Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous" regularly posted about how she was "an attention whore" and would never make it big.

Back in 2016, a former classmate of Gaga's, Lauren Bohn, made a Facebook post detailing the innerworkings of the group.

When I was a freshman at NYU and Facebook was only a year old and people created/joined groups like "I have dimples,...

Posted by Lauren Bohn on Sunday, January 17, 2016

She wrote about how Gaga's story serves as an ideal example of what happens when you lean into your drive, and not what other people project onto you.

"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 SHIT, 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. #LadyGaga #ThatsWho"

Needless to say, Gaga got the ultimate revenge by becoming super famous and beloved. What's more, she broke barriers this year by becoming the first woman to win an Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA and Golden Globe in one year.

People are legitimately curious about how those 12 Facebook Members feel about their petty cruelty now.

Others noted how this just exemplifies that people will hate on anyone and any project, and that should never be a reason to stop.

This article was originally published by our partners at someecards.

lop
Most Shared

America's mayors look to bypass Trump and take part in the UN climate change conference

via Wikimedia Commons

The great thing about American democracy is the separation of powers. The federal government has rights, states have rights, counties have rights, cities have rights, and we, as people, have rights, too.

Heck, even animals have some rights in the good ol' U S of A.

The president of the United States is not a king or a dictator so a team of U.S. mayors, led by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, are asking to go over his head to negotiate directly at next month's UN climate change conference in Santiago, Chile.

Keep Reading Show less
eric garcetti america's mayors paris climate agreement un climate conference america's cities un climate conference
popular

Police officer makes house call to ease 6-year-old's fears about monsters

Facebook / Amanda Williams

It can take time to feel comfortable in a new home, especially if you think there are scary monsters lurking about, which is why six-year-old Hayden Williams had trouble sleeping in his new room.

Hayden used to share a room with his 15-year-old sister, but when the Eldridge, Iowa family moved, each kid got their very own. While his sister was excited for the change, Hayden was having a hard time adjusting to the new arrangement.

"My little man has been having severe anxiety since we moved into the new house…I've tried everything under the sun to get him to sleep in his own room. Nothing is helping," his mom, Amanda Williams, wrote on Facebook.

Keep Reading Show less
police good deeds
popular
Capital One
Capital One

A grandmother wanted to give her grandchildren the life they deserved. This building has made it possible.

Courtesy of Capital One

It was around Christmas 2018 and Jean Simpkins, 79, was looking out the window of her new three-bedroom apartment. Eleven floors above Washington, D.C., the grandmother of two gazed out at the lights of the city and became overwhelmed with gratitude. "The only thing I could say," Simpkins remembers, "was 'Thank you, Father.'"

Almost a year later, Simpkins still can't help but look at the apartment as a miracle — one she desperately needed. Fifteen years ago, when her grandson was born, she became his primary caregiver. Six years later, when her granddaughter was four, Simpkins was awarded full custody of her, too. She's spent the time since trying to give her grandchildren the life she knows they deserve, which has been difficult on a fixed income. On top of that, Simpkins worried that the neighborhood the family resided in wasn't the best influence on her kids. Something had to change.

Then she learned about Plaza West, a new development created by Mission First housing that would reserve 50 of its apartments specifically for families in which a grandparent or other older adult was raising children who were related to them. The waiting list, Simpkins says, was daunting. There are a great deal of grandfamilies in the D.C. area and she was sure it might be years before she got the call. But soon after applying, she was offered a choice between a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom apartment. She accepted the latter, sight unseen. She knew that each of her grandchildren needed space of their own.

Keep Reading Show less
Future Edge
True
Capital One

Student aces her ninja history essay by turning in a deceptively 'blank sheet of paper'

via Pixabay

Ninjas are black-clad assassins that date back to the days of feudal Japan. They are skillful, secretive fighters who have mastered the element of surprise, espionage, and clandestine tactics.

Ninjas weren't held to the Bushido code like the samurai, so they could be mercenaries who did the lord's dirty deeds without worrying about their honor. A ninja's most important power is the ability to be stealth and sneak into castles or homes to take their targets by surprise.

Keep Reading Show less
popular