Lady Gaga's dogwalker insists he doesn't feel abandoned by the star.
A few weeks ago, Ryan Fischer - who was shot four times in the chest while walking the pop star's pet pooches Koji, Miss Asia and Gustavo in West Hollywood in February - set up a GoFundMe page to try to raise cash for a new vehicle so he can continue his six-month sabbatical, which is two months in, across America, sparking a backlash against the 'Poker Face' hitmaker for seemingly failing to support her loyal employee.
However, Ryan insisted he wasn't "setting a blame" on anyone with the funding page and its accompanying video, in which he claimed he had felt "abandoned and unsupported" following the shooting.
He told Rolling Stone magazine: “Everyone thought that I was setting a blame on someone, when it was all love. It’s what happens in trauma — all your loved ones, all your family, everyone: you feel alone. You don’t feel supported because this is your journey.
“I tried so hard. I tried to navigate that. I really did think about the wording. It’s a weird video and it’s a weird way to go about life. It’s not normal and I understood that. And I really did try to navigate it as best I could.”
And he insisted he has "nothing but gratitude" for the pop star and her Haus of Gaga collective.
He added: “They’re my friends, and I love them and they’re absolutely there for me. I have nothing but gratitude for everything. It’s just a weird situation just because of how it’s evolved in the media. But I’m very grateful for my friendships.”
However, Ryan's assistant, Elisha Ault, insisted the support promised by the Haus of Gaga failed to materialise.
She told the publication: “They were supportive from afar — there were a lot of words of assurance, like: Oh yeah, don’t worry about anything, we’re going to take complete care of you.”
And when Gaga and her entourage returned from Italy, where she had been filming 'House of Gucci' at the time of the shooting, nothing changed.
Elisha said: “Nobody really made a point to come see him or talk to him or make contact with him. Ryan was a lot more than just an employee for them. They were friends — close friends — for years.”
When Ryan left on his sabbatical, his assistant sent his clients, including Gaga, an invoice, the first of what she expected to be six months of support from her boss but received a text from a member of the 'Star is Born' actress' team asking what it was for.
Elisha said: "He had moved out of his apartment, got rid of his car — he had made the move to change his life in a way that he was expecting to be supported in. They knew that he didn’t have any other source of income.”
But Ryan is trying to just focus on those he did help.
He said: “I received so much support, and I’m so grateful. I have nothing but gratitude in my heart for the care that I received and the support I received. Most [victims] of crime do not get that and I did, and I’m very grateful for that.”
