Aired June 1, 2010 - 21:00 ET

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LADY GAGA, SINGER: My name is Lady Gaga. And this is my house.

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight the one, the only Lady Gaga. International superstar. Style icon. Self-
proclaimed freak.

Lady Gaga gives us a backstage pass into her unique world. Next on this special 25th anniversary
edition of LARRY KING LIVE.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

KING: On this, our 25th anniversary week here at CNN, we're so excited to welcome Lady Gaga to
LARRY KING LIVE. She's the Grammy- winning singer, songwriter, musician, performance artist
whose provocative videos have been viewed more than one billion times online.

And later in the show, we're going to give you a sneak peek of her latest video "Alejandro."

She just received five world music awards in May and is one of the top winners at the 2010 Brit
Awards.

Lady Gaga has sold more than 15 million albums and 40 million singles worldwide. And "TIME"
magazine recently published this annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Lady
Gaga was on the cover as one of those people.

Were you surprised at that?

LADY GAGA: Yes, of course. I was so surprised. I didn't even imagine that I would make the list at all.
And I was so excited, and I am very blessed to have the wonderful fans that I do who voted for me.

Should I call you Larry or should I call you King Larry?

KING: Well, King Larry would be a great honor, but let's do Larry, and I'll do Gaga.

(LAUGHTER)

LADY GAGA: OK.

KING: OK. You were born Stefani -- why did you change your -- how did you come up with Lady
Gaga? LADY GAGA: Well, it was actually a nickname that some of my friends called me in New York. I
was doing these performance art pop music pieces in the city. And they were a bit on the eccentric
side I suppose. So people started to call me Gaga after the Queen song "Radio Gaga."

KING: At what age growing up, Gaga, did you know that you wanted to be a performer?

LADY GAGA: In the womb, Larry. In my mother's warm womb.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: At your birth.

LADY GAGA: Yes, at my birth. I guess you could say it's always been my destiny to be a performer. I
used to perform even just in restaurants with my family or in the living room.

But it's been really a very exciting transition now that I get to do this for a living. And I just refuse to
stop. I probably should take a break and go on vacation. But I'd rather die on stage. Not under a
palm tree.

KING: Before you were a performer, did you have any other jobs?

LADY GAGA: Yes, well, I was a waitress for many years. And a bartender. And I was a go-go dancer
briefly as well. I used to make a lot of money to pay for demos and flyers that I used to post up all
around the NYU area on the lower east side to get people to come see my shows.
I got a job when I was 15 because my allowance was about $20 a week which in New York was
impossible. So I used to waitress across the street from where I grew up. And I used to take all the
money I made waitressing so that I could go watch jazz downtown.

KING: Wow. You said that people use the word icon carelessly. Do you consider yourself an icon?

LADY GAGA: No, I do not. I hope when I'm dead I'll be considered an icon, though.

KING: Who are your icons? Who does Lady Gaga look up to?

LADY GAGA: Who do I look up to? My mother. My grandmother. I love Princess Diana. So much. She
has -- was an enormous influence on me when I was younger because my mother worshipped her so
much.

Her story, how she began, what she married into, how her society affected her as a woman. I was
always very fascinated with Princess Diana. When she died, it was -- I'll never forget. My mother was
crying, sitting on the couch watching the news, and I was very young.

And it was this very powerful moment in my childhood watching my mother so connected to
someone. So I guess you could say she is one of my biggest icons. As well a