New York, US: Lady Gaga has revealed that she was raped as a teenager and said that it took her years of therapy to acknowledge and start to recover from the trauma.

'I don't want to be defined by it,' the pop star said. "I'll be damned if somebody is going to say that every creatively intelligent thing I ever did is all boiled down to one dickhead that did that to me.'

Lady Gaga, 28, said that the rape took place when she was 19 and that she has gone through years of therapy. She did not go into detail but said that the aggressor was 20 years older than her.

'It happens every day. It's really scary and it's sad and it didn't affect me as much right after as it did about four or five years later,' she told radio host Howard Stern.

'I didn't tell anybody -- I didn't even tell myself for the longest time,' she said. 'Then I was like, you know what, all this drinking and all this nonsense, you have to go to the source, otherwise it won't go away.'

The singer, who later became known for her gaudy outfits and outspoken social commentary, said that she did not report the rape. She said she saw her aggressor once more when she ran into him at a store and that she became 'paralyzed by fear.'

Lady Gaga revealed the rape as she discussed her song 'Swine' from her 2013 album 'Artpop.' She performed the song at this year's South by Southwest festival, where she rode a mechanical bull in a suggestive fashion and had a collaborator vomit on her.

'The song is about rape. This song is about demoralization,' Lady Gaga said in her radio interview Tuesday.

'I want this chick to throw up on me in front of the world, so that I can tell them, you know what? You could never, ever degrade me as much as I could degrade myself and look how beautiful it is what I do.'

Gaga joins 'American Horror Story' cast

Big news for Lady Gaga's legions of Little Monsters -- she is headed to a television screen near you, in what is sure to be a creepy role.

The quirky pop diva announced on Twitter that she will star in season five of ‘American Horror Story,’ and revealed the FX show's new theme – ‘Hotel’.

‘Make your reservation now. #GagaAHSHotel,’ the star tweeted, along with a short black and white clip of herself in a thick black mask, which she removes before whispering, ‘Hotel.’

The clip also reveals her name in the script used for the show's credits and its start date – ‘October’.

Gaga's announcement had been retweeted more than 70,000 times in about three hours, including by series co-creator Ryan Murphy -- who is also the brains behind high-school musical series ‘Glee.’

Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, has had small roles in a few films including ‘Men in Black 3’ -- and an uncredited appearance in an episode of ‘The Sopranos’ -- but this will be her first starring role as an actress.

‘American Horror Story’ -- an anthology series with a different plot each season, but a repertory cast of actors -- was in search of a new star.

Jessica Lange, who won two Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe for her work on the show, bowed out after four seasons.