Lady Gaga Out and Proud: "I Suffer From a Mental Illness"

Lady Gaga opened one of her deepest secrets, that she suffers from a mental illness. Last Monday, NBC's Today premiered a video of the singer's recent trip to New York's Ali Forney Center, a shelter for the LGBT youth. This is when Lady Gaga admitted, "I told the kids today that I suffer from a mental illness - I suffer from PTSD."

During her visit, the singer donated clothing and other essential to the homeless youth. She also exchanged stories with them. She sang some of her hits and told them about her post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lady Gaga admitted that her PTSD was because she was raped at the age of 19. In an interview, she confessed "I've never told anyone that before, so here we are. But the kindness that's been shown to me by doctors - as well as my family and my friends - it's really saved my life."

Although this is the first time that the singer talked about her PTSD problem, she was vocal about her other mental illnesses ever since. When she was featured in Billboard in October 2015, she said, "I've suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life, I still suffer with it every single day."

Lady Gaga hopes that by being vocal about her condition, she could help the teens to be vocal about their personal struggles too. And it looks like she's getting what she hoped for because one of the residents admitted that he had been listening to the album Born This Way after his family treated him badly for being gay.

After the discussion, the singer led the teen into meditation. Gaga said meditation helps her to calm down. After her visit, the singer was quick to tweet "Thank you for sharing your stories, trauma (and) pain with me (and) the world today". Lady Gaga promotes the #ShareKindness Experience which encourages people to share kindness all around.