Lady Gaga: "I Had To Overcome Bulimia To Save My Voice"

10 February 2012, 11:39 | Updated: 10 February 2012, 11:44

The 'You & I' star opens up during a young women's conference in California.

Lady Gaga has revealed that she had to overcome her battle with bulimia in order to save her voice.

The 'Marry The Night' star was speaking at a young women's conference at Los Angeles' Brentwood School where she described how dangerous her experience with the eating disorder was.

"Bulimia made my voice bad so I had to stop. The acid on your vocal cords — it's very bad. But for those of you who don't sing, you maybe don't have that excuse until it's too late. It's very dangerous."

The 'Bad Romance' singer spoke honestly to the crowd as she recalled how bulima used to affect her at a young age.

"I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I'm not that confident. And maybe it's easier for me to talk about it now because I don't do it anymore.

"I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night."

The star also took time to put some emphasis on the problems within the industry for modifying people's images and ultimately affecting people's perceptions of "real life".

"Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you, they make you perfect. It's not real life.

"I'm gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it's affecting kids your age. And it's making girls sick." 

Gaga ended her passionate speech with a few encouraging words to let any sufferers know that they are not alone.

"I'm encouraging you to know what you're worth. And know that no matter who has more money in class, who has more stuff, who has a country house - nobody is worth more than anybody else," she said.

Meanwhile, the singer recently unveiled the first of dates on her upcoming 'Born This Way Ball' world tour earlier this week.