Terry Richardson Shoots Lady Gaga for May's Harper's Bazaar

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The May issue of Harper's Bazaar doesn't hit newsstands until April 26th, but we've got a sneak peek at the cover star, Lady Gaga, and a snippet of her interview. “I am an artist," she tells writer Derek Blasberg, "and I have the ability and the free will to choose the way the world will envision me.”

After winning Grammys, wrestling Madonna on Saturday Night Live, and after gracing a bazillion magazine covers, did she feel pressure to conform to Hollywood pop culture norms?

“I had all these number-one records, and I had sold all these albums, and it was sort of this turning point: Am I going to try and embrace Hollywood and assimilate to that culture?” she said. “I put my toe in that water, and it was a Kegel-exercise vaginal reaction where I clenched and had to retract immediately... I ran furiously back to New York, to my old apartment, and I hung out with my friends, and I went to the same bars.”

· Lady Gaga [Harper's Bazaar]
· All Lady Gaga coverage [Racked]