Lady Gaga's parents once came to watch her strip, she has revealed.

The Poker Face singer said her father was "shocked" when he saw her take her clothes off in a club - a job she took after she left home to make ends meet while waiting for her music career to take off.

The 23-year-old pop star recalled: "My parents came down to see me perform. I wasn't worried that they were watching me, I wanted them to see what I was doing. But my dad was shocked. He thought I was going crazy.

"He really thought I had lost it and he was so upset. That totally freaked me out. I didn't want to be a failure in his eyes."

Despite her father's disapproval, Lady Gaga - who attended the posh Convent of the Sacred Heart School, in New York, where Paris and Nicky Hilton were both educated - really enjoyed being a stripper because she felt empowered by the job.

She added: "I loved being a stripper. To me it was all about the act, it was all about art. I wanted to be the most dangerous performer on that stage."