TwitterWhile many accused Lady Gaga of glorifying bulimia after she was vomited on during her performance of "Swine" at the SXSW Festival in Austin last week, the woman behind the puking is now defending the twosome's onstage stunt.
Performance artist Millie Brown, who stuck her fingers down her throat and regurgitated a nasty green liquid all over the pop star, opened up about her professional relationship with the Mother Monster in a new interview with Elle.com in addition to addressing the rampant eating disorder backlash.
As for how Brown first met Gaga?
"She reached out to me through ["Born This Way" video director] Nick Knight," the 27-year-old artist revealed. "I guess she was introduced to my work through him. We worked together in 2009 when we collaborated on her Monster Ball interlude."
Brown added that she loves working with the "Born This Way" beauty because she really "understands performance art," noting that "working together is just quite powerful."
So when did the performance artist first discover that vomiting on canvas was her specialty?
"It was when I was 17," she shared. "I started exploring performance art and it was an idea that came to be because I wanted to use my body to create a performance that was about the beauty from inside out. I came up with the idea of actually vomiting a rainbow using my body as a tool to create paintings. It's also about the whole process of the painting. Obviously the paintings themselves can be beautiful or not, but the whole process behind it is what interested me."
Brown admitted that there have been both "positive and negative reactions" to her work, as evidenced by Gaga's performance, which drew criticism from many, including Demi Lovato, who accused the singer of glamorizing eating disorders.
"Sad… As if we didn't have enough people glamorizing eating disorders already. Bottom line, it's not 'cool' or 'artsy' at all," Lovato wrote after the duo's performance, adding, "Would you let someone bring a needle and shoot up on you? Addiction is addiction."
"My performance is not a statement about eating disorders in any way," the performance artist insisted. "I think the whole bulimia thing—it's important for people to know that I'm not trying to promote it."
Surprisingly enough, Brown also revealed that her paintings sell for $20,000 and that her favorite color to vomit in is actually "blue."
Gaga has yet to formally address the eating disorder backlash, and when asked about her eyebrow-raising performance, she admitted that she was worried her team wouldn't approve of her latest onstage antics. "I asked my publicist if she quit in the middle of the show!" she said while laughing.
To which we say: Ladies, we suggest you listen to Demi Lovato.