An aunt she never met has been one of the most important people in Lady Gaga’s life. Gaga may never have achieved the world renown she now enjoys if not for the influence of this deceased relative.
Lady Gaga developed a cocaine addiction she could not get over while playing in small New York clubs. Her father’s sister, dead at 19, helped Gaga find the moral strength she needed to break the habit.
She told the British paper News of the World, "I realised my father’s sister, Joanne, who’d died at 19, had instilled her spirit in me. She was a painter and a poet – and I had a spiritual vision I had to finish her business. I never met her but she’s been one of the most important figures in my life."