Lady GaGa used to be a ''destructive'' person.

The 'Applause' singer claims her late teenage years were spent taking drugs and battling an eating disorder because she found it hard to let go of pain and got locked in a vicious cycle.

Speaking to V magazine, Gaga explained: ''I have an ability to experience pain for long periods of time - to endure it, whether it's mental pain or physical pain. I think it's because of my discipline as a child.

''I studied piano and then theater and then dance, so I have this ability to endure long periods of pain. But as a result, when I became an adult at 18, I allowed myself to stay in bad situations because I was able to take the pain.''

The 27-year-old pop star claims her creative streak and love of music finally saved her from addiction and helped her be reborn from the ''shell'' of a person that was left.

Gaga added: ''Although I was able to withstand a challenge for that period of time in my youth, the results were destructive. I was left a shell. Does anyone really know what I went through to get here?

''Art was always the thing that drove me forward in these challenging and painful circumstances.''

The fashion-conscious star is seen posing for four different covers for the magazine based on different stages in her life, and she confessed the one which shows her with hair and a Saint Laurent red sequined jacket was the most difficult to shoot, as it reminded her of the painful time in her life.

She said: ''That look was very hard for me because that is how I looked when I was 19 until I was 21 years old... Maybe longer.''