Lady Gaga was on lithium while filming ‘A Star Is Born,’ later suffered psychotic break

Present-day Lady Gaga considers herself “a healthy, whole person,” but that wasn’t always the case.

“I did ‘A Star Is Born’ on lithium,” the multi-hyphenate told Rolling Stone in a lengthy profile published Thursday.

The Oscar-winning movie co-starring Bradley Cooper hit theaters in October 2018.

(Lithium is a mood stabilizer typically prescribed to manage the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Gaga has not publicly disclosed a diagnosis.)

Right after shooting the film, Gaga embarked on her “Joanne” world tour, which ran from August 2017 to February 2018. While on that tour, she suffered a psychotic break.

“There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister anymore,’ and I canceled the tour,” the pop star recalled.

“There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care. I needed to take a break. I couldn’t do anything. … I completely crashed. It was really scary.”

At that time, Gaga, 39, admittedly didn’t think she “could get better.”

“ I feel really lucky to be alive,” she confessed. “I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”

When she met her now-fiancé, Michael Polansky, in December 2019, she was finishing her 2020 album, “Chromatica.” Though the record was about healing, its creator was actually struggling.

“I was smoking three packs of cigarettes, sitting on the porch all day,” Gaga explained, noting that she was getting ready to do press about the project and boast about what a great place she was in. COVID-19 derailed those plans.

“I was as great as I could be for someone that smoked weed all day, knocked back a couple bottles of wine and passed out,” she said.

Polansky — a Harvard-educated tech entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist — went on to offer his perspective from that time.

“The piece that I always noticed was how disempowered she felt — not in charge of her own life,” the 42-year-old told the magazine. “I’d never met somebody so incredibly talented and gifted feel so disempowered.”

Gaga — who had previously dated from a place of trauma — marveled, “He wanted to take care of me, and I’ve never been loved that way. My life was serious to him; it was not a party. He helped me see that my life was precious.”

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) national helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).