Diane Warren Reflects on How Song About Her Childhood Sexual Assault Left Lady Gaga 'Hysterically Crying' (Exclusive)

Diane Warren and Lady Gaga channeled their pain into power.

In an intimate documentary Diane Warren: Ruthlesswhich premiered in theaters on January 10 and will be available to stream on MasterClass from January 16, Warren, 68, talks about a deeply personal experience: her childhood sexual assault.

“I never talked about being abused as a child,” the songwriter says in the documentary. “I didn’t tell mom or dad at the time… I didn’t tell anyone.”

Diane Warren.

Master Class

Turning her pain into art, Warren wrote the song “Til It Happens to You” and enlisted a collaborator who had experienced similar trauma to bring the song to life. “When I wrote the song, I thought I heard Gaga say something on Howard Stern that she was sexually assaulted,” Warren tells PEOPLE. “And I thought, you know what? I’m going to call her.”

Singer-songwriter Diana Warren’s childhood guitar teacher told her dad ‘she has no future in music’ (Exclusive)

The emotional reaction that Gaga (38) had to the song confirmed to Warren that she had made the right choice. “I call and go, ‘I want to play you this song. Either you’re going to hate me or something.’ I didn’t know how she would react,” Warren recalls.

“I was on the phone and I played her a song and she was crying hysterically on the other end of the phone when I finished it. I flew to New York and learned the song. We reviewed it, and then she went back to LA and produced this amazing record.”

Promoting the song alongside Gaga caused unexpected emotions for Warren, as she shared her story publicly for the first time. “I don’t really talk about it, but I was abused by my friend’s dad. I’ve never said it in front of… I’ve hardly said it to anyone, I’m saying this in front of people, wow. I will stay crying,” she said in 2015 TimesTalks record with Gaga, which was shown in the documentary.

Diane Warren (left) and Lady Gaga in 2015.

Daniel Zuchnik/Getty

Warren continued, “I never told my friend. And you know, her parents are still alive, but I never said anything. I told my mom, you know, before she died, and I said something, and she says, ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ and I say, ‘I don’t know’. And I thought about it, and it’s because somewhere I felt it was my fault or something.”

Gaga, who previously said she became pregnant after being sexually assaulted as a teenager, sang and produced “Til It Happens to You.” It was so well received that it was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2016 Academy Awards after appearing in Hunting grounda documentary about sexual assault on university campuses.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Inside Lady Gaga’s Oscar rehearsals: Meeting sexual assault survivors who joined her on stage ‘healing and life-changing’

“I thought she was the perfect voice for that song to be heard,” Warren tells PEOPLE of Gaga, who performed “Til It Happens to You” live at the Oscars. “For me, that performance is still one of the best live performances ever recorded. When she was up there with all those sexual assault survivors, there were so many of them on that stage, and she was hitting notes at the top of her voice, I don’t know how anyone could.”

Lady Gaga performed ‘Til It Happens to You’ at the 2016 Oscars surrounded by sexual assault survivors.

Kevin Winter/Getty

Diane Warren Says 15th Oscar Nomination Is ‘Best Thing’: ‘I’ve Already Won’ (Exclusive)

About Gaga’s performance, he adds: “Vocally, she went to places that were over — I felt like she was pushing something inside herself as well.” She killed her attacker while singing that song that night. If you look at her face. And she’s really bad at it. And she was just the right performer for that song. She was the perfect performer for my song.”

Despite losing the Oscar for the song with “Writing’s on the Wall” from the James Bond film Spectrum — “It’s the year I thought I was going to win,” admits the 15-time Oscar nominee — Gage’s performance left her feeling fulfilled. “I have to be honest, I was disappointed by it,” she says. “But I was thinking if only those voters could cast their vote after performance, that performance was so — God, it was just brilliant.”

Diane Warren: Ruthless is now showing in select theaters and will air on MasterClass from January 16.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education