Lady Gaga Responds to “Unhinged” Negative Reviews for Joker: Folie à Deux

November 15, 2025

Over a year after its polarizing debut, Lady Gaga is sharing her initial reaction to the heavy criticism leveled at her film, Joker: Folie à Deux.

In her cover story for Rolling Stone published on Thursday (November 13), Gaga, who starred alongside returning lead Joaquin Phoenix, admitted that she had to laugh at some of the “unhinged” reviews for the 2024 sequel to the highly successful 2019 film, reports People.

The “Dead Dance” singer acknowledged the significant backlash, but explained that her mood at the time influenced her reaction: “I was feeling artistically rebellious at the time.”

“I wasn’t, like, unfazed. It’s funny, I’m almost nervous to share my reaction,” she told the publication. “But the truth is, when it first started happening, I started laughing. Because it was just getting so unhinged.”

However, the “Abracadabra” hitmaker, who recently earned seven nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards, added that the negativity became more “painful” the longer it persisted due to her deep commitment to the role. Gaga played Lee Quinzel opposite Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck in the musical film.

“When it takes a while for something to kind of dissipate, that can be a little bit more painful,” she confessed to Rolling Stone. “Only because I put a lot of myself into it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Gaga touched on her personal life, speaking about feeling “lucky to be alive” after intense mental health struggles while filming her breakout role in A Star Is Born, and her fiancé, Michael Polansky, hinted at their upcoming wedding.

Written by: MJ