The singer opened up while discussing her poignant 'Til It Happens to You' performance.
Lady Gaga has a message for all survivors of sexual assault.
The singer opened up about her own experiences in the aftermath of being raped at 19, speaking candidly about her powerful "Til It Happens to You" performance for TimesTalk. "The only person in this scenario that can heal you is yourself, and that is the complicated process,” she remarked.
WATCH: Lady Gaga Confronts Campus Rape in Powerful, Graphic 'Til It Happens to You' Music Video
"I didn't tell anyone for I think seven years," she shared. "I didn't know how to even think about it, I didn't know how to accept it, I didn't know how to not blame myself or think it was my fault. It was something that really changed my life. It changed who I was completely. It changed my body, it changed thoughts."
Gaga lent her powerful voice to the Diane Warren-penned song, featured in the 2015 campus rape documentary, The Hunting Ground. In September, a graphic music video helmed by Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and starring Nikki Reed was released.
"Me and Diane wanted to open the door to any person that went through any type of experience to know that it was OK to feel that way and to share that and that," Gaga explained. "You don't have to maybe defend yourself so much. Until it happens to you, they don't know how it feels."
One year ago, Gaga spoke publicly about being raped for the first time on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show. "I'm able to laugh now, because I've gone through a lot of mental and physical therapy and emotional therapy to heal over the years," she said.
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During Thursday's TimesTalk, Gaga admitted that there were times she blamed herself for the attack.
"After it happened, I'm like, 'But what did I do in my life to bring this upon myself?' There was some sort of maybe religious guilt attached to it that I had somehow inspired the violence," she said, later adding: "Because of the way that I dress, and the way that I'm provocative as a person, I thought that I had brought it on myself in some way -- that it was my fault."
Today, Gaga said she was able to channel the experience into newfound strength.
"When somebody says to me, 'Oh, that happened to you?' 'Oh, did that damage you?' I'm thinking to myself, 'You don't know who the f*ck I am now! You don't want to meet me in an alleyway. What I've been through,'" she said. "You can own your pain and it can be a good part of you."
The TimesTalk came on the same day as a career highlight for the GRAMMY winner, who scored her first Golden Globe acting nomination for her role as The Countess in FX's American Horror Story: Hotel.
READ: Inside Lady Gaga's Frenzied First Day on 'AHS': Vomit, Lice and Pasties!
"I apologize to my neighbors I'm still screaming in my apt in NY!" she tweeted on Thursday morning. "I'm nominated as an actress for a Golden Globe what a dream is this real!"
Gaga has much to celebrate in her personal life, as well. After becoming engaged to Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney on Valentine's Day, the duo are trying to find time to plan a picture-perfect wedding day.
"I told her I don't mind doing the little white chapel thing," Kinney told ET earlier this year. "She wants what she wants. I want to make sure that it's right what she wants. ... We're going to take our time and do it right."
WATCH: Lady Gaga Reveals Taylor Kinney's Proposal Prank
See what Kinney said about the couple's plans for a family in the video below!