Lady Gaga Talks Inner Peace and Self-Acceptance: ‘I’m Just Trying to Feel as In-My-Skin as Possible’

I LOVE being Lady Gaga. I love being me,” the singer, Stefani Germanotta, tells the March issue of Elle U.K. The 38-year-old, known for her daring looks, is almost unrecognizable with long brunette locks, a fringe of bangs and barely there eye makeup. After becoming famous in her 20s, the New York native tells the mag she’s less interested in shock value — hello, meat dress! — than in inner peace. “I’m just trying to feel as in-my-skin as possible and not like I’m performing all the time,” she says. “For me, I’m at a place in my life where I just want to feel like myself.”

Fiancé Michael Polansky helped usher in this new era, the “Poker Face” singer reveals. “He used to say to me when we first met, ‘You are a special human being when the cameras aren’t on you. And I get to see that all the time.’ ” It took the A Star Is Born actress some time to trust that she was enough. As she reveals in Elle, she was more accustomed to trying to avoid reality. “I used to drink a lot and smoke a lot, and I was always looking for an out,” she explains. “I used to call it the trapdoor. I used to be like, ‘I need an escape route.’ And I stopped doing that. And I actually started feeling it. Being present.” (She also admits she’s worried people will think she’s boring, “but honestly, thank God I’m boring. Thank God!”)

With her seventh studio album, Mayhem, out March 7, Gaga will no doubt see her career go into overdrive. But she did hint that she and Michael are looking forward to starting a family, saying any children she has can be whoever they want. “I just want to let my kids find out who they are.”