NEW YORK: Lady Gaga described her Oscar performance with rape survivors as the most difficult of her life, saying that she remains in chronic pain from a decade-old assault.

The pop star on Sunday offered an emotional performance of her song “Till It Happens To You” at the film industry’s gala awards, with university students who have experienced rape joining her on stage with arms joined in solidarity. “I was never such a wreck as I was the week before this performance,” Gaga told New York radio station Z100.

Speaking of her rape, she said: “It’s the thing that I am the most ashamed of in my life and I have always felt that it was my fault until this week.”

Gaga, who turns 30 this month, has previously revealed that she was raped by an older man when she was 19.

But she said that the Academy Awards performance marked a coming out of sorts, as previously the issue was “swept under” with people quickly moving on to other topics.