Lady Gaga’s Father Receives Half of Her Money

Lady Gaga might've written a love song called Paparazzi, but her true love is apparently her real-life papa, who the New York Post reported Sunday receives half of the pop icon's earnings. For as good a relationship as Joe Germanotta's had with his daughter, one source remarked that all that dough she raked in for scoring hits like Born This Way did nothing to hurt it.

That helped substantially, the source said. I don't know that it's healthy. As soon as she started earning money, he said something to her like, 'What man wouldn't want you now that you're becoming so successful?'

What's more, entertainment lawyer Josh Grier noted, is that signing away half of one's earnings is pretty unorthodox in show business -- even for a woman who went onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards sporting raw meat.

There's really no justifiable sense to doing a 50-50 deal with anyone in your career, other than someone you're partners in a band with, said Grier, who's associated with acts like Elvis Costello. Certainly no artist entering a management deal does anything close to that -- a commission is usually 15 to 20 percent.

Perhaps there's a method to Mother Monster's madness people will appreciate more on Thursday when ABC premieres A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, which Katie Couric promised would include interviews almost as revealing as those outfits she comes up with.

This is a chance to see more of who she is beneath the wild costumes and staged musical numbers... Lady Gaga as a high school student still bruised by being excluded from the party, Lady Gaga as a devoted daughter and caring sister, Lady Gaga as a 25-year-old woman embracing fame and fortune that seemed to come overnight, Couric said in a statement.