Singer Lady Gaga performs during New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square in New York, December 31, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

Lady Gaga used to suffer from bulimia.

The 'Alejandro' hitmaker used to make herself sit after eating family meals because she wanted to lose her "voluptuous" curves and be a "skinny little ballerina".

Speaking at the 'It's Our Turn' conference in Los Angeles yesterday (08.02.120, she said "I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I'm not that confident. I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night. I used to come home and say, 'Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.' And he'd say, 'Eat your spaghetti.'

"It's really hard, but you've got to talk to somebody about it."

Gaga admitted the eating disorder damaged her voice, which was why she eventually stopped making herself sick.

She explained: "It made my voice bad, so I had to stop. The acid on your vocal chords - it's very bad."

The eccentric singer admitted she still worries about her weight but urged young girls to stop being so body-conscious and obsessed with being thin.

She added: "Weight is still a struggle. Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you - they make you perfect. It's not real life. I'm gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it's affecting kids your age. And it's making girls sick."