Novel by former Vogue editor suggests Lady Gaga had a meltdown in the gift shop at Met Gala

A former Vogue editor suggests in a new book that Lady Gaga had a meltdown in the museum gift shop during the 2010 Met Gala.

Filipa Fino has penned a roman à clef novel, “Best Dressed,” about her time at the famed fashion mag. And while she’s created some fictional characters, we’re told the celebrity anecdotes in the book are based on real events.

Fino writes that prior to her performance, the “Bad Romance” star freaked out 30 minutes before she was supposed to go on stage at the Met Ball (or the “Crown Ball” as it’s called in Fino’s book).

“Lady Gaga was barricaded in the Met gift shop, surrounded by tote bags, snow globes, and coffee-table books, having what could only be described as a catastrophic reckoning. Crying. Smoking. Praying Apologizing. Then apologizing for apologizing,” she wrote.

Apparently part of the reason for the hyperventilation was that the event was in Gaga’s childhood neighborhood, full of landmarks from her past including the Catholic school she attended.

Event co-chair Oprah Winfrey (who really did co-chair that year) kept her cool, it says, as did… a character strikingly similar to Anna Wintour. Once Gaga did hit the stage, she delivered a “brilliant, perfectly remembered,” performance that even had the Wintour-like character “dancing with Mick Jagger like they were teenagers instead of institutions,” Fino wrote.

Taylor Swift also shows up as a “Crown Ball” guest in the book.

The book also gives what may be a glimpse into how the stars are woven into the event.

Fino says Gaga, Beyoncé and Madonna are “nonnegotiable,” when it comes to the guest list.

“Beyoncé wasn’t a guest. She was framework—planned around the way cities plan around bridges,” Fino wrote. “Madonna functioned the same way, less predictable but equally immovable. Rihanna wasn’t invited. She was accounted for like weather—altering the atmosphere the moment she entered the equation. Jennifer Lopez operated as both spectacle and signal, her presence reassuring sponsors and designers alike. Lady Gaga required contingency planning, not because she was unreliable but because she was unpredictable by design. These women didn’t simply attend the Crown Ball—they recalibrated it,” Fino wrote, adding the night is practically built around their arrivals.

Gaga’s rep and Fino did not comment. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Vogue quipped, “We look forward to reading it- fiction is always fun!”

The self-published book will be released in May.