If there was one defining moment to come out of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, it was possibly Lady Gaga’s powerful performance of “Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground, a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses. Lady Gaga herself is a sexual assault survivor, and has used that experience to defend others who have come out and said they’ve experienced sexual abuse, including Kesha. No doubt that singing “Til It Happens to You” was an especially important experience for her. Even better is it allowed this moment of connection between her, her grandmother, and her aunt, as this Instagram post shows.
The part about Gaga’s grandmother calling her is the most touching part:
The morning after the Oscars when I talked to my grandmother Ronnie, with tears in her eyes I could hear them welling through the phone she said to me “My darling granddaughter, I’ve never been more proud of you than I am today.” Something I have kept a secret for so long that I was more ashamed of than anything– became the thing the women in my life were the most proud of. And not just any women, the ones I look up to the most. #BeBrave #speakup #tilithappenstoyou
There is so much shame around sexual assault that survivors often find it difficult to be honest about it, even though it’s not their fault. That’s why it’s especially powerful that Lady Gaga’s grandmother gave her such unconditional support for speaking out.
