Truth about Lady Gaga's engagement, as insiders reveal star's secret rock bottom... that nearly cost her everything

Lady Gaga's career has been defined by chaos, ambition and constant reinvention, but the star's calmest chapter is proving to be her most successful.

After almost two decades of ups and downs, both onstage and off, the 39-year-old is engaged to marry venture capitalist Michael Polansky and is in the midst of an incredible comeback thanks to her chart-topping album Mayhem.

Sources tell the Daily Mail that Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, has never been happier now that she's finally achieved both personal and professional success.

A lot of this is thanks to Polansky, who has been described as a 'grounding force' in the star's life - and her 'best friend'.

'He has incorporated his life into hers in such a way to where they are actually one person,' a source shared.

'She never had that kind of romance before, but with Michael, he brings everything to her that she needs and has always wanted... They just seem to be the perfect couple.'

Gaga's most recent album, Mayhem, ushered in a musical comeback for the star, one reminiscent of her cutting-edge early days as a new performer back in the early 2010s.

The dance-driven record heralded a return to Gaga a peak form – think Bad Romance and Born This Way – thanks to its pulsating club beats and twisted goth-rock visuals.

Mayhem debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was lavished with praise from critics, with countless publications ranking it as one of the year's best releases.

Although Gaga missed out on the top 'best album' honor at this year's Grammys, she still took home the award for Best Pop Vocal Album, while her hit single Abracadabra earned Best Dance Pop Recording.

Then there's her chart-topping Bruno Mars collaboration Die With a Smile, which was Spotify's most-streamed song of 2025 and is now officially one of the biggest songs of all time.

She performed a Latin-tinged remix of the song at Bad Bunny's historic Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday, before dancing up a storm with the Puerto Rican rapper in front of an estimated 128 million viewers.

With her 40th birthday fast approaching in March, Gaga has now established herself as a rare pop legend, having deftly sidestepped a midlife career crash that felled the likes of Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera.

Her resurgence is even more impressive given the number of so-called 'flop' projects she's launched over the years, from her country album Joanne through to her scenery-chewing performance in House of Gucci.

And who could forget the critical and commercial disaster that was Joker: Folie à Deux, the 2024 movie which earned Gaga and co-star Joaquin Phoenix a Razzie for Worst Screen Combo.

'The reception of the second Joker film could have led her down a path for more disappointment, but she learned from it, continued to do music, and jumped straight into Wednesday [on Netflix] and the Devil Wears Prada sequel, plus she's touring,' said a source close to the star.

Besides a few box office bombs, Gaga has also overcome a terribly tumultuous personal life to find her happy ending with husband-to-be Polansky.

'Life is pretty good. She's very happy and Michael has been a very important reason that everything is so joyous now,' said the source.

'She has a clear head to do the projects she knows her fans will love and that will help her career thrive.'

Her love life wasn't always so rosy, with the star having failed engagements to actor Taylor Kinney and talent agent Christian Carino.

Before shooting to fame, Gaga was sexually assaulted by a music producer at just 19, which left her with PTSD and later caused a 'psychotic break'.

'First I felt full-on pain, then I went numb,' she recalled years later.

'And then I was sick for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks after, and I realized that it was the same pain that I felt when the person who raped me dropped me off pregnant on a corner at my parents' house because I was vomiting and sick. Because I'd been abused.' 

On top of battling trauma, she started abusing various substances, primarily to cope with anxiety and pain she was experiencing during her grueling world tours.

At the height of her addiction, Gaga was smoking up to 20 marijuana joints a day with no tobacco.

'I was living on a totally other psychedelic plane, numbing myself completely,' she said in 2013.

'I lily pad from substance to substance because I get to a point where I can't go any further with one substance so I move to another.'

Now Gaga has stopped smoking and is focused on keeping fit (she likes spinning and swimming).

Her hard work and dedication were on full display when she took the stage for The Mayhem Ball tour, which was the highest-grossing pop tour by a female artist last year. The tour is ongoing, with 87 dates scheduled in total.

Her concert in Copacabana, Rio, which was free to attend, attracted 2.5 million people in May last year, making it the most-attended concert by a female artist in history. 

Her fiancé has been by Gaga's side for every step of her comeback, with Polansky co-producing The Mayhem Ball and executive producing her Mayhem album.

He's even listed as a co-writer on some of her recent tunes, including her single Disease.

'It would appear that Michael is taking a managerial role with her career, but they don't see it as that nor do they want that to be the case; they will work together, but he doesn't want to be seen as a manager of her career,' a source said.

'Contributor is fine, but at the end of the day, she is her own manager if anything.

'It's not often that you see a couple that reminds you of the movies, but that's really their relationship at this moment. It's wild to see that this can actually happen as you'd only hope for this kind of love to happen to everyone.'