"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 also admitted there were times she blamed herself for the attack.
She shared: "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.
"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."
However, the Born This Way hitmaker said she's since turned her pain into new-found strength and resolve.
She explained: "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**k I am now! You don't want to meet me in an alleyway. What I've been through.'
"You can own your pain and it can be a good part of you."
