Gaga and Stefani are my nicknames. I guess when people meet me for the first time and call me Stefani, it bothers me. Because it's something that's reserved for only the people who are closest to me. It's not because I don't like my given name; it's that I became somebody else. I became somebody else for a reason, you know. This is part of what my message is - you can become whoever you want to be, to escape your past.

To this day, some of my closest friends say, 'Gaga, you know, everything's great. You're a singer; your dreams have come true.' But, still, when certain things are said to you over and over again as you're growing up, it stays with you and you wonder if they're true.

Whether I'm wearing lots of makeup or no makeup, I'm always the same person inside.

I have to be really honest: People who say they can't escape the paparazzi are full of sh*t. Let me just be the artist to throw everybody under the bus. I don't spend lots of money on houses or lots of cars, but I do spend money on security and they never find me.

If you are not being bullied all I would say - cause I like to talk about the other side of it as well - is you know, be someone that nurtures, and if there's someone in your class that maybe doesn't have a lot of friends, be the person that sits with them in the cafeteria sometimes; be the bigger person.

Being beautiful is not so fun when you're in a business with all men.

Vanity can create a very cruel space for you if you don't know how to manage it.