Lady Gaga stirred a lot of controversy with her iconic meat dress at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2010. Did she change her ways in the meantime and decided to adopt a vegan lifestyle?
Lady Gaga isn’t vegan. Her diet includes a lot of fruits and vegetables, but she also eats meat products. Animal rights groups have criticized her fashion choices on several occasions, but her vegan beauty brand Haus Laboratories was well-received.
What Does Lady Gaga Eat?
Lady Gaga isn’t following a plant-based diet, but that’s not stopping her from eating healthy. The singer’s personal chef Bo O’Connor discussed her meal plan with Women’s Health and revealed that she tries to stay away from white flour and processed foods.
Her breakfast usually includes eggs and a lot of vegetables, but she also likes to go for Greek yogurt, granola, and fruits. Smoothies and salads are almost always a part of her daily menu, but she doesn’t shy away from eating her favorite Italian dishes.
Lady Gaga drinks a lot of coconut water and fresh green juice to stay hydrated, while the list of her favorite snacks includes whole-grain pretzels, rice crisps, health bars, nuts, and Scandinavian crackers with the almond butter.
Despite her healthy diet, the “Poker Face” singer is no stranger to craving burgers and fries. Instead of going for fast food, she would have O’Connor make her a gluten-free turkey burger with baked sweet potato fries.
Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress
It doesn’t come as much of surprise that Lady Gaga isn’t vegan, because some of her fashion choices weren’t exactly cruelty-free. The most notable example is her controversial meat dress from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
Fashion designer Franc Fernandez used raw beef from his family butcher to make the dress, which was later preserved by taxidermists and displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It went down in history as one of Lady Gaga’s most iconic looks, but many animal rights groups condemned her choice to wear it.
The meat dress was interpreted in many different ways, and the Grammy-winning singer tried to explain what it meant to her during an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres’ show.
“It has many interpretations, but for me this evening it’s [saying], ‘If we don’t stand up for what we believe in, if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones,’” Lady Gaga told DeGeneres.
Shortly before wearing the iconic meat dress at the MTV VMAs, she posed on the cover of the Japanese Vogue in a similar meat bikini. She also performed in a faux-meat dress during her concert tour “Born This Way Ball”.
Facing More Criticism
Animal rights organization PETA was quick to condemn Lady Gaga’s meat dress, but that wasn’t the only time they slammed the eccentric singer. She was a target of their criticism in 2012, after being spotted in several fur coats.
The singer released an official statement apologizing to her fans who were offended by her decision to wear fur. She also slammed PETA’s “violent, abusive, and childish” campaign, and defended her fur coats by calling them works of art.
“I have truly always stayed away from skinned fur… This does not mean my morals are rigid and that I won’t bend at the sight of an absolute art piece of a coat. I have no chains about this. You see a carcass, I see a museum pièce de résistance,” wrote Lady Gaga.
Vegan Beauty Line
Lady Gaga doesn’t have a great track record with animal rights organizations, but she’s trying to do better. Back in 2019, she announced the launch of her vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand Haus Laboratories.
Their products were analyzed by several websites dedicated to cruelty-free beauty products, such as Cruelty-Free Kitty and Ethical Elephant. After reaching out to Haus Labs, they reported their products are truly vegan and don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.