With her anticipated new album ARTPOP slated to hit stores later this fall, Lady Gaga garnered herself a little added exposure by covering the October 2013 issue of ELLE magazine.

While rocking designer duds from Versace for the Ruth Hogben-shot spread, the "Edge of Glory" songstress opened up about her constant criticism and shared more details about her comeback from recent hiatus.

Check out GossipCenter's recap of Lady Gaga's interview below. For more, be sure to visit ELLE!

On her way of handling pressure:
"What are you talking about, pressure? I'm great under pressure. I'm a warrior. I'm Rocky, round 12."

On her past struggles:
"Everyone is so cynical - that I can't purely love my fans, or share an honest story about my past, without someone asking if I really truly struggled. Do you know how much dirt I ate? Do you know the men I had to crawl through, the people that disrespected my body, my mind, my heart?"

On her big return:
"I went to look back to myself being 19, with all my Warhol books and all my Yoko Ono and John Lennon CDs, my Rolling Stones CDs and my Bowie... and I said, what would she want me to do right now? Well she'd want you to call Jeff Koons and Robert Wilson and Marina Abramovic and Inez and Vinoodh... and that's what I did!"

On her personality off stage:
"I am - Stefani is - a perpetually tortured artist. That's why I changed my name. I can't be her in public. She would be a mess!"