Lady Gaga says the gay men in her life helped her to "become a woman"

Speaking during her appearance on 'RuPaul's Drag Race', Gaga explained: "I'm not a gay woman, you know? And [it's] that touchy sort of subject where - can you stand up for people that you are not necessarily fully part of that community in a way that you can understand what you all go through?

"But I have always been surrounded by incredibly intelligent, powerful gay men who have lifted me up through lots of changes in my life. Becoming famous was very strange and it's the gay men in my life that helped me to become a woman. And I don't know that a lot of people would understand that but it's because of what you've through - you survived so much that you inspire me to continue surviving."

Meanwhile, the 'Joanne' hitmaker, who split from former fiancé Taylor Kinney last summer, recently started dating CAA talent agent Christian Carino.

The star first spotted being affectionate with her new beau at a Kings of Leon concert in late January and a source star is being romanced by Christian, whose clients include Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, Christina Aguilera, Amber Heard, Miley Cyrus and Simon Cowell.

The 'Bad Romance' singer amicably split from 'Chicago Fire' actor Taylor, 35, in July after five years together but the blonde beauty admitted that she wouldn't be happy if Taylor started dating someone else.

When asked how she would feel if he started dating someone else, Gaga quipped at the time: "I'm not going to f***ing throw a party!"

She added: "I hate to sound like a hippie, but I kind of am one and so is he. We love each other, that's it. It's just about life changes, and we all go through different stages and we're focused on different things."

"To be fair, I think that Taylor's pretty f***ing cool that over the years no matter what creative transformation that I've gone through, he's always been very supportive of that and loving."