Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for National Board of ReviewLady Gaga accepted her award for best actress from the National Board of Review Tuesday night, delivering a 13-minute speech in which she thanked her fiancé Christian Carino and her Italian family.
She kicked off the speech by discussing the experience of working on A Star Is Born with director and co-star Bradley Cooper and the process of creating her character, Ally.
“Ally was all the things I was not when I went out into the world to pursue my dreams,” she told the audience at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.”
“I had to reflect on an earlier time in my life, in high school and earlier when I was bullied. I felt unheard. I was traumatized by people telling me over and over again that I wasn’t and couldn’t become who I dreamed of becoming.”
She then explained that she was able “to face the trauma of my childhood, [and] bring to the forefront in myself and onscreen the things I have hid for many years in my own work as a musician.”
Later she thanked her fiancé, saying, “Thank you, Christian, who’s not here, but I’ll let him read this later. Thank you for loving and taking care of my heart every day.”
She closed out the speech with a tribute to her family. Her mom, Cynthia Germanotta, had accompanied her to the event.
“I have always made art not just for myself, but to make my family proud,” Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, said.
She added, “I did this one Germanotta-style.”
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