Earlier this month, Lady Gaga was photographed taking off the leather jacket she was wearing and giving it to a fan. After the paparazzi photos went viral, the Today show caught up with the lucky fan—a 27-year-old woman named Shannon McKee—to find out what really went down with the pop star.
According to McKee, she had an impromptu run in with Gaga at a market in Malibu, California,”I walked in and I was like, ‘Hey, that’s a really bad a** jacket you got on,'” McKee recalled. “And she said, ‘Thank you.’ I kind of recognized the voice, but I’m not one to really go up to celebrities.”
Despite her initial hesitation, McKee decided to speak with Gaga after all. “I did have a story that I wanted to share with her, and I felt this need that she needed to hear it from me,” McKee explained. “And so when I went back, I was like, ‘Hey, you’re Lady Gaga, right? My best friend back in high school was a huge fan of yours. And you’re the reason he actually came out to me. And his first five tattoos are all dedicated to you and my brother just recently came out to me, too. So I just wanted to say thank you for being such an incredible ally.'”
Gaga was so touched by McKee’s story she decided to give her the leather jacket she had previously complimented. “As I was telling her the story about my friend, she took off her jacket and was like, ‘You loved my jacket so much. Here. It’s yours. Put it on right now. You be bad a** with it now,'” McKee revealed.
Though Gaga didn’t want to take photographs at the time, McKee left their short interaction with an even more memorable token—the bad a** leather jacket right off Lady Gaga’s back.
