Lady Gaga Talks Rocky Balboa, the Monsters Being 50 Percent of Her in Rolling Stone

The new issue of Rolling Stone with Lady Gaga on the cover hits stands on Friday, but the mag released a few choice cuts, stunning photos and quotes from the piece.

The publication was given intimate access to Gaga's crazy world during the final dates of her Monster Ball Tour and while she put the final touches on 'Born This Way.' If that's not an insider's insight, nothing else is!

The interview was incredibly personal, as Gaga took a knife to her chest and let the contents of her heart spill out, telling the writer, "When I am not onstage I feel dead. Whether that is healthy or not to you, or healthy or not to anyone, or a doctor, is really of no concern to me. I don't feel alive unless I'm performing, and that's just the way I was born." A-ha! She was born this way.

Gaga may be from New York City, but a Philadelphia icon inspires her on many levels and it's none other than fictional sports icon Rocky Balboa from 'Rocky.' Philadelphians may revere Rocky and have even erected a statue to him, but Gaga has soft spot for the underdog boxer, too:

"My favorite part is when Apollo's ex-trainer says to Rocky, 'He is not a machine. He's a man. Cut him, and once he feels his own blood, he will fear you.' I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking about the machine of the music industry. I started to think about how I have to make the music industry bleed to remind it that it's human, it's not a machine."

When she was first bitten by 'The Fame Monster,' Gaga had a hard time adjusting to being in the public eye … Sort of. Some people were overly critical over her look and her burgeoning success, leading them to question just how authentic she really was. It also caused some touchy feel-y folks to cross the line. "Being myself in public was very difficult," she says. "I was being poked and probed and people would actually touch me and touch my clothes and be like, 'What the f--- is that,' just so awful. It was like I was being bullied by music lovers, because they couldn't possibly believe that I was genuine."

However, when it comes to the precious monsters, Gaga wants them to touch her, feel her and to never ever sever their ties or lessen their bond. "We have this umbilical cord that I don't want to cut, ever," she says, once again invoking a "born" metaphor to go along with her album title and her famous "egg" stunt. "I don't feel that they suck me dry. It would be so mean, wouldn't it, to say, 'For the next month, I'm going to cut myself off from my fans so I can be a person.' What does that mean? They are part of my person, they are so much of my person. They're at least 50 percent, if not more."

Gaga has spoken plentifully about the bullying she endured in high school and she touches on the subject once again, saying, "Being teased for being ugly, having a big nose, being annoying. Your laugh is funny, you're weird, why do you always sing, why are you so into theater, why do you do your make-up like that? I used to be called a slut, be called this, be called that, I didn't even want to go to school sometimes."

Lastly, Gaga scoffed at the pop culture watchers who accuse her of being an attention whore, taking them to task with a very poignant question, turning the table on them! "Is it that you believe that I am attention-seeking or shock for shock's sake, or is it just that it's been a long time since someone has embraced the art form the way that I have?," she asks. "Perhaps it's been a couple of decades since there's been an artist that's been as vocal about culture, religion, human rights, politics. I'm so passionate about what I do, every bass line, every EQ. Why is it that you don't want more from the artist, why is it that you expect so little, so when I give and give, you assume it's narcissistic?"