The eccentric singer - who is known to carry a tea cup with her at all times, and has promised to never be seen without high heels - amazed her friends when her down-to-earth nature suddenly changed when she found fame.
Her friend, transsexual Amanda Lepore - who noted the change when she joined her for a plate of spaghetti at her boyfriend Speedy's home - said: "She was super nice and down-to-earth. She was like, 'Oh, Gaga would do this,' 'Gaga that.' But not like it was her, like it was a third person.
"I think she crossed that boundary."
Friends of he 'Poker Face' hitmaker also claim she cultivated her eccentric image and bizarre sense of style to hide the fact she is not classically good looking.
Her pal Wendy Starland - who used to work for the singer - added in Maureen Callahan's new biography Poker Face: The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga': "I said we can do something theatrical so it's not the attention on her looks. She talked about it too. She was like, 'I know my look is untraditional and I'm not a classic beauty. We have to do other things."