Lady Gaga has some sad news for her Jo Calderone fans. During a lie detector test with Vanity Fair published on February 19, the 38-year-old “Abracadabra” singer shared the fate of her iconic, chain-smoking alter ego from the Born This Way era.
When shown a picture of Jo Calderone, Gaga paused before revealing, “Oh, this person is no longer with us,” without triggering the polygraph.
The character first debuted in 2011, with Jo Calderone portrayed as a mechanic from Sicily in the music video for “Yoü and I.” Gaga’s alter ego made a major live debut at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, where he donned a white T-shirt, black jacket, and messy dark hair. That night, Calderone performed “Yoü and I” with Queen’s Brian May and presented Britney Spears with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
Reflecting on her inspiration for the transformation, Gaga shared in 2011 on X (formerly Twitter), “You will never find what you are looking for in love if you don’t love yourself.”
Gaga also revealed to V magazine how Jo Calderone came to life, describing it as a creative experiment with British photographer Nick Knight. “Beginning as an invention of my mind,” she explained, “Jo Calderone was created with Nick as a mischievous experiment.” Their creative process, which included eating bovine hearts and giving birth to alien nations, sparked the concept of Calderone, and ultimately, the world would see the character in high-fashion shoots, including the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan.
Knight famously encouraged Gaga, saying after the shoot, “I believe Jo has to sing,” paving the way for the character’s musical debut.
