Reactions To Lady Gaga's Cancelled Tour Shows How Little We Understand Invisible Illness

Lady Gaga is without a doubt one of the most iconic pop legends of our time. Having dominated the music scene, headlined Coachella, given one of the most talked-about Super Bowl halftime shows in decades, and of course left a lasting legacy in the form of her infamous meat suit, what could possibly stop her in her tracks? The answer is simple: fibromyalgia.

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Fans were first given a glimpse into Gaga’s struggle with chronic pain during her Netflix documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two. We as an audience observed the daily battle she faced in trying to balance a thriving career with taking care of her health, and sympathised with her efforts to never let her fans down. To many, it was no surprise when she later announced that she had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia: a debilitating physical condition causing widespread burning pain in muscles, ligaments and joints, unrelenting fatigue, and a whole host of other disabling symptoms.

Because Gaga is, well… Gaga, she naturally decided to embark on her upcoming grand-scale European tour regardless. However, the time eventually came when she reluctantly had to step back and put her health first, and in an emotional statement her team announced that she was ‘suffering from severe pain that has materially impacted her ability to perform live’, and that she was ‘deeply saddened’ to cancel the final 10 dates of her tour.

Although loyal fans were quick to offer their love and condolences in response to the statement, which was shared on social media on February 2nd, the messages of support were noticeably peppered with some less than sympathetic ones:

Meanwhile, another collection of social media users attempted to offer solutions to the situation, most likely intending to be helpful, but again demonstrating a complete misunderstanding of the condition. ‘Just use some Tiger balm’, instructed one user, adamantly convinced that this would treat the complex neural abnormalities thought to be responsible for the condition. ‘Cut out sugar’ and use ‘herbal botanical treatment’ were among other suggestions, implying that the condition was a result of Gaga’s lifestyle choices, and something she had control over.

It was whilst reading some of the above responses that I couldn’t help but cast my mind back to when Ed Sheeran cancelled his tour after breaking his arms in a motorcycle accident, so I decided to take a look back at the reporting of this news and Twitter users’ responses to it. Unsurprisingly, not once did I observe anybody telling him that his decision to cancel his tour was attention seeking, or anyone lecturing him on the lifestyle changes needed to treat his broken bones. Instead, he received outpourings of love and sympathy, and thousands of well wishes from the Twitter community. Both Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran developed physiological limitations that prevented them from performing, but why were these cases perceived so differently?

I think the difference between reactions to Ed’s broken bones and Lady Gaga’s physical health condition tells us something important about the way we think about invisible illness. Is it because people can’t personally see Gaga’s suffering that they choose to question it? Is it because chronic pain isn’t visible that they think it’s something that she has any degree of control over? If she let people into her home while having a pain flare and they saw her howl and cry, would that be enough to validate her illness? And why should she have to validate her illness in the first place?

As somebody with an invisible chronic illness myself, I’ve seen first-hand how people’s attitudes and knowledge seem to so widely vary between conditions they can see, such as broken bones and amputated limbs, and those they can’t see - not just physical conditions, but mental illness too. It’s unsurprising that people tend to know less about long-term conditions that they can’t see, but it does unfortunately seem that people are much less willing to learn about and accept them too. Whilst having a disability of any nature (including visible impairments) is full of challenges, it’s endlessly frustrating to see how invisible conditions continue to be stigmatised by those who aren’t willing to learn.

If you take one thing away from this article, make it this: believe the sufferer. If Lady Gaga, arguably one of the most prominent figures of the 21st century music and celebrity scene, needs to cancel her tour in order to look after her health, then I stand by her decision and you should too. The only thing worse than living with long-term chronic pain is living with long-term chronic pain and not having people believe you. You might not be able to see somebody’s suffering, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

We need to see a shift in attitudes towards invisible illnesses, and take steps to encourage people to get clued up on what they’re failing to understand. We need to remove the stigma and focus instead on supporting those affected by these frequently misinterpreted conditions. Some targeted treatment and a cure for chronic pain wouldn’t go amiss either… if anything, just to ensure that we get to see our Gaga continue slaying the pop icon game in years to come.

- Pippa Stacey

Chronic pain can be debilitating and isolating, but you don’t have to face it alone. Scope’s online community offers a supportive platform for talking about issues raised by pain, connecting you with advisors and those with similar impairments. For further information on fibromyalgia, visit Fibromyalgia Action UK.