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Lady Gaga’s “Till It Happens to You" — a song she co-wrote with Diane Warren for The Hunting Ground, a documentary about rape and assault that takes place on college campuses — was made even more powerful when she performed it at the 2016 Oscars this past Sunday (February 28).

Not only did she choose to shine a spotlight on a slew of young men and women who’d been victims of sexual assault, but Gaga’s emotional performance was particularly harrowing, seeing as she’s a survivor herself.

Although Gaga has been open with the press about being raped as a 19-year-old, certain members of her family weren’t made aware of it until watching her Oscars performance.

The “Bad Romance” singer posted a photo to Instagram of her grandmother and aunt along with a lengthy caption explaining she’d been too embarrassed to admit she’d been assaulted, echoing similar feelings victims often share.

"My grandmother (in the middle) and my Aunt Sheri (on the right) both called me the day after the Oscars because I never told them I was a survivor. I was too ashamed. Too afraid,” she wrote. "And it took me a long time to even admit it to myself because I'm Catholic and I knew it was evil but I thought it was my fault. I thought it was my fault for ten years."

She spoke with her grandmother the day after the Oscars: "...she said to me 'My darling granddaughter, I've never been more proud of you than I am today.'"

Moreover, Gaga used her Instagram post as an opportunity, just as she did with her moving performance on Sunday night, to shed light on the issue and encourage survivors of abuse to "be brave" and "speak up."

"Something I have kept a secret for so long that I was more ashamed of than anything-- became the thing the women in my life were the most proud of," she continued, before urging others to speak up about their own experiences with assault. "And not just any women, the ones I look up to the most. #BeBrave #speakup #tilithappenstoyou."

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