Lady Gaga was not born the way some speculated years ago, and now she’s reflecting on her careful response to those dated rumors.

Folie à Deux star addressed persistent rumors early in her career that she was actually a man and why she was never overly defensive about it: “I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumor was not in the best interest of the well-being of other people.

She said, "They were like, ‘There’s this rumor that you’re a man, what do you have to say about that?'…The reason I didn’t answer the question was because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie.'”

Lady Gaga is opening up about a chapter early in her career where rumors spread she was a man — and why she never denied those claims. The Oscar and Grammy Award winner said she was intentional not to take the bait surrounding the scuttlebutt about her gender.