Lady Gaga Got Matching Tattoos With the Rape Survivors From Her Oscars Performance

Lady Gaga got a new tattoo yesterday, but not just some random pretty art. As she explained in a Snapchat where she let fans watch the whole process, the tattoo is a symbol of unity that matches those gotten by the sexual assault survivors who joined her onstage at Sunday’s Oscars. “At rehearsal, the survivors and I made a pact,” she said in the clip, where tattoo artist David Allen inks the symbol on her left shoulder, below the heart and above the monster claw. (She even had to ask the survivors to tweet her to help her figure out which way to place the design!)

A photo posted by David Allen (@davidallen) on Mar 3, 2016 at 3:31pm PST

A video posted by sn: ladygaga (@ladygagasnapchat) on Mar 3, 2016 at 1:57pm PST

The group of 50 survivors joined Gaga onstage after she performed her Oscar-nominated song “Til’ It Happens to You” from the campus-rape documentary The Hunting Ground (relive the seven most goose-bump-inducing moments here). She shared on Instagram how emotionally overwhelming it was to connect with the women. “The first day of rehearsal with all the survivors I could barely get myself together,” she writes. “My body was wrecked with inflammation and pain, crying and shaking the whole walk to the stage. The whole night before I did not sleep. The fear of knowing I would finally face that I belonged in that group.” Other members of the group have gotten the tattoo in a variety of sizes on different parts of their bodies, as shown in photos shared on Twitter by one survivor named Elver.

https://twitter.com/elverurbina1/status/705544519958323200

https://twitter.com/elverurbina1/status/705533372693667840

https://twitter.com/elverurbina1/status/705543376129679361

https://twitter.com/elverurbina1/status/705543971313995776

https://twitter.com/elverurbina1/status/705544237652303872

The Oscars marked the first time Gaga has been so public about her status as a survivor. Although she admitted in 2014 on The Howard Stern Show that she was raped at age 19, she had never told her grandmother and other close family members about the assault; they found out via her performance on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the exact placement of the unity symbol on Gaga’s shoulder is meaningful too. The day before the Oscars, she referenced the claw tattoo on Instagram. “I never realized before but I put the tattoo of my fans ‘monster paw’ the symbol of our fan base right over my heart. It’s not easy to perform this song, but I know you will have my heart in your hands holding me up like you have for almost a decade,” she captioned a photo of her back. And the heart bears the word Dad. She got it after he had life-saving open-heart surgery in 2009. Gaga has said her love for her father is also the reason she has no tattoos on the right side of her body. “My father asked that I remain on one side slightly normal,” she revealed in 2011.

And here we thought that video of Justin Bieber sharing the meaning behind all his tattoos was touching—leave it to Gaga to take even tattoo artistry to the next level.

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