Lady Gaga wasn't herself for a year and a half.
For 18 months, the singer stayed in character — on and off screen — while playing Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, in the upcoming film, "House of Gucci."
"It is three years since I started working on it and I will be fully honest and transparent: I lived as [Patrizia] for a year and a half. And I spoke with an accent for nine months of that," the Oscar winner told British Vogue for its December 2021 issue. "I never broke. I stayed with her."
During that time, Gaga found it difficult to speak without an accent, as she completely embraced the character. The "Poker Face" singer openly admits that she lost touch with reality.
"It was nearly impossible for me to speak in the accent as a blonde," she said. "I instantly had to dye my hair, and I started to live in a way whereby anything that I looked at, anything that I touched, I started to take notice of where and when I could see money."
The film, which also stars Adam Driver, is the story behind the Gucci empire and the murder of Maurizio Gucci, which Patrizia was convicted of orchestrating.
"House of Gucci" was filmed primarily in Rome during COVID lockdowns.
"I had some psychological difficulty at one point towards the end of filming," Gaga said. "I was either in my hotel room, living and speaking as Reggiani, or I was on set, living and speaking as her. I remember I went out into Italy one day with a hat on to take a walk. I hadn't taken a walk in about two months and I panicked. I thought I was on a movie set."
Since filming, Patrizia has voiced her displeasure in the fact that Gaga never reached out to her. Gaga, though, admits the she didn't meet with Patrizia before taking on the role, but that was by design.
"I only felt that I could truly do this story justice if I approached it with the eye of a curious woman who was interested in possessing a journalistic spirit so that I could read between the lines of what was happening in the film's scenes," she said. "Meaning that nobody was going to tell me who Patrizia Gucci was. Not even Patrizia Gucci."