People News

Lady Gaga launches Foundation at Harvard

Mar 1, 2012, 11:02 GMT

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has launched her anti-bullying Born This Way Foundation.

The 'Marry The Night' singer was joined by Oprah Winfrey and her mother Cynthia Germanotta - who acts as the president of the organisation - at Harvard University to announce details of the project, with both taking to the stage to discuss how important setting it up was for them yesterday (29.02.12).

Addressing the crowd, Gaga claimed humanity have an opportunity to change the world and should take any chance they can to be 'transformative'.

She said: 'If you have revolutionary potential, you must make the world a better place and use it. This is about transformative change in culture. The goal is to challenge meanness and cruelty by inspiring young people to create a support system in their respective communities.'

Cynthia, who wore a cream designer coat to the launch, admitted it was 'special' because she had wanted to create something to tackle bullying for so long as Gaga - real name Stefani Germanotta - had struggled to accept herself as a child.

She added: 'Today is a special day for my daughter and I as we share with everyone something we've been working on for almost a year and have been talking about as mother and daughter for much longer.

'As my daughter's career took off and she developed more and more reach, we started having serious conversations about ways to give back. She's always been very tuned in to youth culture.

'Growing up she faced many struggles because of her individuality, and, as a result, often experienced meanness and cruelty. She's talked very publicly about these and other struggles in a real and personal way and people have responded to that message.'