9. TV DEEMS A GUY RITCHIEDIRECTED CLIP TOO VIOLENT, 2001 Madonna and then husband Ritchie’s collaboration on “What It Feels Like for a Girl,” in which she played a woman on a violent, vengeful spree, was too much for MTV and VH1. Each aired the video only once before pulling it. 10. ON THE CROSS, 2006 On her Confessions Tour, Madonna, in a crown of thorns, placed herself on a mirrored cross. Religious groups boycotted. NBC cut the image from a concert special. “It is no different than a person wearing a cross or ‘taking up the cross,’ as it says in the Bible,” said Madonna. “My performance is neither anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous. Rather, it is my plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another.” 10 9 8 49
THE ’90s “i know that i’m not the best singer, and I know I’m not the best dancer, but I’m not interested in that,” Madonna admitted in the 1991 documentary Truth or Dare. “I’m interested in pushing people’s buttons, in being provocative and in being political.” Point well taken. During the ’90s she sang, she toured, she danced, she acted, but, memorably, she pushed a ton of buttons while finally finding the perfect film part for herself: Madonna. Truth or Dare was a landmark event. This was before The Osbournes made celeb reality TV a genre, eons before now-common pop star docs like Beyoncé’s Homecoming or Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana. Then the highest-grossing documentary of all time, the film, directed by 26-year-old newcomer Alek Keshishian and executive-produced by Madonna, took audiences behind the scenes of her Blond Ambition tour for a racy, raw look at the art and chaos swirling around her. It combined everything Madonna excelled at—giving live performances choreographed for maximum controversy, delivering diva attitude offstage—even as it deepened her mystique. Here was Madonna at her mother’s grave. And here, explaining to her father that “I can get you tickets any night” of her tour. It also I N A B R E AT H L E S S D E C A D E , M A D O N N A I N V I T E S A L L T O V O G U E , R E V A M P S C E L E B R I T Y D O C S , W I N S A N A C T I N G A W A R D , M A K E S T H R E E S T U D I O A L B U M S — A N D R E I N V E N T S H E R S E L F A S A M O M B y JED GOTTLIEB 50
MADONNA PEOPLE 51 IN A NEW LIGHT After making movies—and a baby—Madonna capped the decade with the acclaimed 1998 album Ray of Light and, in the video for the title track, a new Earth-mother disco-queen persona.
52 THE ’90s ‘MADONNA SAID TO ME THAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT HOW FAME CHANGES YOU BUT NEVER ABOUT HOW IT CHANGES PEOPLE AROUND YOU’ —ROSIE O’DONNELL
celebrated same-sex love by making costars of her tour dancers, most of whom were openly gay men—then a rarity at the movies. (It would be two more years before Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas played a couple—who never kiss onscreen—in Philadelphia.) But Truth or Dare was just a slice of the second decade she dominated. “She’s a phenomenon,” Warren Beatty said. The actor-director (who appears in a Truth or Dare cameo as Madonna’s then boyfriend) cast her as singer Breathless Mahoney in his 1990 film adaptation of Dick Tracy. What he got was, in his words, “a huge personality, diligent and disciplined and a spectacular dancer and performer” and a smash soundtrack powered by the No. 1 hit “Vogue.” The Stephen Sondheim-written ballad “Sooner or Later” that she sings in the movie earned the composer an Oscar. Parallel with her music career, Madonna continued to knock on Hollywood’s door. Finding ideal projects proved difficult, though. For every small miracle (sassy, swing-dancing “All the Way” Mae Mordabito in 1992’s A League of Their Own), there was a bomb (1993’s Body of Evidence, for which she alone should not have to shoulder MADONNA PEOPLE 53 HOLLYWOOD PLAYGROUND Madonna (center) and actress Rosie O’Donnell (right) attended the New York City premiere of A League of Their Own on June 25, 1992. A SOFTER IMAGE Madonna in Paris in 1994 as she promoted Bedtime Stories, an album on which she worked with artists like Björk. It was a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.
the blame; Willem Dafoe was a willing costar). But in Evita (1996) Madonna found an acting role she could pour all of her talents into. With precision and authenticity, she brought forth Eva Perón’s cult of personality. Across Alan Parker’s opulent Broadway adaptation, she delivered stronger-than-expected vocals, having prepared at length with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Onscreen she and Antonio Banderas had so much chemistry they made a tango in a slaughterhouse sexy. Evita earned some strong THE ’90s EROTICA Right: Madonna made “Express yourself don’t repress yourself” her motto in the ’90s, which is evident in this scene from the set of her 1995 “Human Nature” video. SOMETHING TO REMEMBER Opposite: Madonna made her videos cinematic experiences. Here she filmed 1994’s “Take a Bow” in Ronda, Spain, inspired by the era (if not the geography) of Evita. COME ON, VOGUE Below: Madonna on the set of her video shoot for the 1990 smash single.
reviews, won an Oscar (for Eva’s new song “You Must Love Me”) and three Golden Globes, including one for Madonna’s performance. (Two decades later Broadway powerhouse Patti Lupone, who created the role onstage, off ered a dissenting view, telling TV’s Andy Cohen she felt Madonna was “a moviekiller . . . dead behind the eyes.”) But the Madonna of the ’90s could not be brought down by dissenters—and there were critics with some substantial platforms coming for her then. The Vatican called her Blond Ambition tour “one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity.” But that didn’t stop it from breaking sales records—if anything, it probably goosed the numbers. MTV banned Madonna’s most erotic clip yet, “Justify My Love,” so she turned around and sold hundreds of thousands of copies of it as a video single for $10. By today’s standards “Justify” no longer shocks (it’s a nursery rhyme compared with, say, Cardi B’s “WAP”), but decades ago (Continued on page 59) MADONNA PEOPLE 55 ‘PEOPLE SEE EVA PERÓN AS EITHER A SAINT OR THE INCARNATION OF SATAN. I CAN DEFINITELY IDENTIFY WITH HER’ —MADONNA , 1996
56 THE ’90s ‘I DON’T THINK OF WHAT I’M DOING AS GENDER SPECIFIC. I AM WHAT I AM, AND I DO WHAT I DO’ —MADONNA, 1990
MADONNA PEOPLE 57 TRUE BLUE Madonna made some new fans when she crossed paths with a French rugby team at the Ritz on Sept. 30, 1993.
THE ’90s 58 GRAMMY GOLD Ray of Light made Madonna a big winner at the 41st Grammy Awards in 1999. The blockbuster album propelled her to four wins, including Best Pop Album.
Madonna was often called upon to explain herself. “I grew up feeling incredibly repressed,” she told People at the end of the decade. “My rebellion happened, instead of in my teens, when I was 30. I just wanted to go, ‘Don’t tell me what to do just ’cause I’m a girl. Don’t tell me I can’t be sexual and intelligent at the same time.’ ” Madonna emerged from every uproar and puritanical condemnation more popular than ever—and even more determined to keep stirring up tumult by brazenly confronting those straitlaced values. But that wouldn’t always be the case. In October 1992, a then-34-year-old Madonna released a new LP, Erotica, and a coffee-table book titled Sex filled with arty yet graphic photos by Steven Meisel. The Sex book, spiral-bound between metal covers, featured loads of nudity, soft takes on S&M culture, some toe-sucking and plenty of stars: actress Isabella Rossellini in drag, rapper Big Daddy Kane and model Naomi Campbell in a mock threesome with Madonna, and (because it was still the ’90s) Vanilla Ice. Critics savaged it. Eager fans snapped up all 1.5 million copies in a few days, and the now-out-of-print book became a collector’s item of the highest order. (Continued from page 55) (Continued on page 62) MADONNA PEOPLE 59 HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS Madonna and then beau Carlos Leon, with whom she had recently welcomed daughter Lourdes, arrived for EvitaÕs 1996 premiere in Los Angeles (left). The next year, Madonna won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Leading Role—Musical or Comedy (right).
60 MADONNA PEOPLE ‘EVERYTHING WE DO BECOMES AN EVENT’ —JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, ON HIS COLL ABOR ATION WITH MADONNA, 1990
FASHION FEVER DREAMS With French designer Jean Paul Gaultier, who created Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour costumes (including the famous cone bras), at the 1994 launch of Gaultier’s perfume. Inset: Gianni Versace gave the bridal bouquet to Madonna at one of his shows in 1995.
Narrated by Madonna as dominatrix alter ego Mistress Dita, the album Erotica generated its own heat. And not just for naughtiness. In the past Madonna cherry-picked pop styles to make excellent but hodgepodge LPs. Erotica streamlined the sonics by channeling the pulsing, pounding and thumping underground dance music. The house beats paired nicely with Madonna’s sex-positive, sex-forward, sex-all-the-time vibe. But coos, commands and breathy vocals on top of atmospheric synthesizers and computer clicks somehow left some listeners cold: Erotica peaked at No. 2, a bewildering miss for a woman accustomed to being on top. When she stopped by Late Show With David Letterman on March 31, 1994, and dropped 14 f-bombs, many portrayed her not as smart, sexy or shrewd—but as desperate. Later that year she released Bedtime Stories, a lush LP infused with mellow neo-soul and electro-pop. Despite some critical love for collaborations with Björk and a crew of star producers that included Babyface, the album stalled (Continued from page 59) 62 MADONNA PEOPLE ‘THE THOUGHT I KEPT HAVING WAS, “MY GOODNESS, IF IT WASN’T FOR ME, MADONNA WOULD BE WEARING SOMETHING ELSE” ’ —ARTHUR GOLDEN, AUTHOR OF 1997’S MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA RED ALERT Madonna performed “Nothing Really Matters” from Ray of Light at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 24, 1999.
THE ’90s 63 RED CARPET In a Jean Paul Gaultier outfit, Madonna left the Cannes Festival Palace in France after a screening of her Truth or Dare documentary on May 13, 1991.
at No. 3. Still, it got her mental state across: “Did I say something wrong? Oops, I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex,” she sings in “Human Nature.” If Bedtime Stories showed a softer side, it may have been that her priorities were shifting. After splitting from Sean Penn and a few A-list romances, she enjoyed a surprising romance with personal trainer/ actor Carlos Leon. On Oct. 14, 1996, their daughter Lourdes Maria was born, and everything changed. “This is the greatest miracle of my life,” Madonna told People. The new mom would be only briefly out of the spotlight. And then in 1998 Madonna returned with the album Ray of Light, singing, “Now that I am grown/ Everything’s changed/ I’ll never be the 64 MADONNA PEOPLE
same/ Because of you,” on the track “Nothing Really Matters.” She had changed, of course. If she had spent the ’80s in pursuit of fame and most of the ’90s chasing controversy through the marriage of sex and religion, the Madonna who entered the 2000s was focused more on family—and love. THE ’90s 65 THIS IS YOUR LIFE (IN DRAG) The star made friends with some Madonna-esque drag performers as well as Lauryn Hill and Paul McCartney (below) at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City. ‘I FEEL JUST AS HUNGRY TODAY AS I DID THE DAY I LEFT HOME’ —MADONNA , 1999
THE ’90s 66 MADONNA PEOPLE
BACK TO BACK TO THE BOX THE BOX OFFICE HITS OR MISSES, MADONNA SWUNG FOR THE FENCES The singer appeared in a wide range of comedies and dramas (clockwise from opposite): Dick Tracy (1990, with, among others, Warren Beatty in yellow and Al Pacino, seated), A League of Their Own (1992), Body of Evidence (1993, with Willem DaFoe), Girl 6 (1996, with Spike Lee and Theresa Randle), Shadows and Fog (1991, with John Malkovich), Dangerous Games (1993, with Harvey Keitel) and Four Rooms (1995, with a cast that included Tim Roth, in hat, and Antonio Banderas), a New Years comedy at a Los Angeles hotel. 67
1. DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (March 29, 1985) Lying in a trashed Atlantic City hotel room, Madonna invents the selfie with a Polaroid camera. This is how director Susan Seidelman introduces her title character in Desperately Seeking Susan. Some critics said Madonna succeeded in the role of a nightclub gypsy by playing herself; others said it announced her as an actress. Who’s right? Who cares? It is an unmissable debut. DON’T-MISS MOMENTS A W AY F R O M T H E C O N C E R T S TA G E , M A D O N N A H A S T U R N E D I N S O M E E S S E N T I A L PERFORMANCES FROM SNL TO B ROADWAY ICONIC 68 MADONNA PEOPLE
2. INTERVIEW ON AMERICAN BANDSTAND, 1984 Alone on the Bandstand dance floor—bouncing, twisting and clearly lip-synching to “Holiday”—Madonna oozed charisma. After the performance, which aired Jan. 14, 1984, host Dick Clark tried to start his interview, but the giddy crowd wouldn’t stop screaming. When Clark finally got to ask her what her dreams are, the 25-year-old star bit her lip, halfway between adorable and unstoppable, and replied: “To rule the world.” 3. TRUTH OR DARE, 1991 Madonna’s public persona could eclipse the fact that she is an actual person. Alek Keshishian’s documentary Truth or Dare was a fascinating reminder. It began as a concert film, but life behind the scenes with Madonna and her dancers and singers proved as compelling a spectacle as their show. She let cameras capture her suffering with laryngitis, enduring an unrequited crush on Antonio Banderas and awkwardly meeting up with, then dismissing, a childhood friend. A producer of the film, she might have nixed those scenes. But no. As her then beau Warren Beatty put it: “She doesn’t want to live off-camera.” 4. MADONNA DEBUTS ON BROADWAY, 1988 Alongside veteran actors Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver, Madonna proved (again!) she can play more than herself. In its review of Speed-the-Plow, David Mamet’s Tony-winning satirical takedown of Hollywood culture, The New York Times cheered Madonna’s performance as an alluring secretary, describing it as “intelligent, scrupulously disciplined comic acting.” 69 2 3
5. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, 1992 Madonna and Roseanne Barr joined Mike Myers for his “Coffee Talk With Linda Richman,” a show, “dedicated, as ever, to Barbra Joan Streisand.” As they kvelled about their icon and her Oscar-nominated film The Prince of Tides, they got an unexpected visit from Streisand herself. “Hello, gorgeous.” 6. “VOGUE” AT THE VMAS, 1990 The video for “Vogue” featured 1940s movie glamor and voguing, a dance born of Harlem drag balls. She could have re-created it onstage, but Madonna and crew instead turned up in Marie Antoinette finery—equal in artifice but wholly new and surprising. 7. EVITA, 1996 The part was not written for her. (Elaine Paige created it onstage.) She wasn’t a Broadway belter. She didn’t even have a great track record at the box office. But somehow Madonna was a perfect movie fit for Eva Perón, two oft-maligned icons of excess and allure. It remains her greatest scripted performance. 70 5 6
8. SUPER BOWL XLVI, 2012 This halftime show packed a lot into 12 minutes: Spartan soldiers, break-dancers, parkour masters, drum lines, an impish slackliner and musical assists from LMFAO, M.I.A., Nicki Minaj and Cee Lo Green. Amid it all Madonna, in towering thigh-high boots at 53, made a medley of five hits look effortless. 9. “LIKE A PRAYER,” MET GALA, 2018 It’s hard to thrill a jaded fashion crowd. But that hooting and hollering you heard was coming from an elated group that included Rihanna, Cardi B and Kim Kardashian, who fangirled out for Madonna’s unannounced performance, a mash-up of Gregorian-esque chants, modern electro-pop and Leonard Cohen. 71 ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCES 8 9 MADONNA PEOPLE 71
“i’ve gone through all my sexual rebellion,” Madonna told People in 2000. “I worked it out of my system.” In place of sexual rebellion, there was now a devoted yoga practice, the study of Kabbalah mysticism and mothering her young daughter Lourdes. “She’s so much calmer, so much more centered than she used to be,” observed her friend Rosie O’Donnell. She was also, in her 40s, back on top professionally. Ray of Light married layers of buzzing techno, ambient-humming synthesizers and fl ourishes of Middle Eastern and Indian musical motifs, with newly introspective lyrics. “I traded fame for love without a second thought/ It all became a silly game, some things cannot be bought,” she sings on the opening track, “Drowned World/Substitute for Love.” Ray of Light sold more copies than any of her ’90s studio albums and earned four Grammy Awards. Throughout her most personal and intimate reinvention, she remained in complete control. “At the Grammys it was a little implicit that there was a guy behind it all,” Ray of Light coproducer William Orbit told Rolling Stone in 2000. “And it’s really far from that. The one with all the equipment is assumed to be pressing all the buttons. She presses all the buttons.” THE 2000s O N A J O U R N E Y O F S E L F - D I S C O V E R Y T H AT I N C L U D E D N E W F A I T H A N D A C H A R I T Y , M A D O N N A E X P A N D E D H E R F A M I L Y A N D E A R N E D THE RECOGNITION OF HER ROCK PEERS B y JED GOTTLIEB 72 MADONNA PEOPLE
73 “DON’T TELL ME TO STOP” In 2001 Madonna threw a Madison Square Garden party, ringing in her third decade of pop dominance in the town that gave her a first break. The tour featured 2000’s album Music.
In her personal life, more change. In 1999, at a party thrown by her friends Sting and wife Trudie Styler, Madonna had met British movie director Guy Ritchie, who was riding high on his cult gangster noir hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. “My head didn’t just turn, my head spun round on my body,” said Madonna. “I was taken by his confidence. He was sort of cocky but in a self-aware way. He’s a risk-taker, and he’s got a hungry mind.” An intense romance led the couple to marry in late 2000, months after the birth of their son Rocco. The new parents nested in London, where Madonna, recorded 2000’s Music, which came out in September—in between the baby and the wedding. (Madonna is nothing if not an admirable multitasker.) Perhaps missing home, the expat star focused on Americana: Cowgirl hats and acoustic guitars mashed up with club-ready European techno. Around the same time, she recorded a cover of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” With younger artists from Britney Spears to Christina Aguilera to Destiny’s Child nipping at her heels on the charts, Madonna, as a critic for the Austin Chronicle put it: “shimmies into get-the-hell-out-of-Dodge duds, cocks her index finger like a gun and blows away the competition.” Next she prepared for the 2001 Drowned World tour, her first since 1993’s the Girlie Show. The lineup would lean heavily on material from Ray of Light and Music and featured Madonna playing guitar onstage for the first time. Thrilled to see a concert of new songs, fans gobbled up tickets at a feverish pace; five nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden went quickly, and the younger stars were put on notice: Madonna wasn’t giving up her pop queen crown easily. While 2003’s American Life disappointed (with fans and sales numbers), 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor bounced through a full hour of joyous disco jams. The single “Hung Up” became her biggest hit by hitting No. 1 in 41 countries. Her films were flailing, but her concerts remained a hot ticket. In 2006 her Confessions Tour became the all-time top-earning tour by a female artist. Three years later Sticky & Sweet set the record as the highest-grossing run ever by a solo artist. 74 MADONNA PEOPLE FILM FRIENDS AND LOVERS Madonna and Rupert Everett as BFFs who have a baby in The Next Best Thing, 2000. Right: Guy Ritchie’s 2002 remake of Swept Away was a stylish flop; Madonna starred with Adriano Giannini (son of Giancarlo Giannini, the male lead in Lina Wertmüller’s 1974 original).
‘THE IDEA WAS THAT THE WIFE AND I WOULD MAKE SOME SASSY LITTLE ART MOVIE, BUT WE GOT THE S--- KICKED OUT OF US. . . . IT’S A GOOD FILM. I’M LEFT SHAKING MY HEAD’ —GUY RITCHIE, 2002 75 THE 2000s
76 HOMEGROWN Promoting her 2003 album American Life, Madonna performs a set (with guitarist Monte Pittman) at New York’s Tower Records in 2003. THE 2000s
During her travels Madonna visited Malawi, a developing African country in which more than half a million children had been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She founded a charity, Raising Malawi, to assist kids there, and in 2006 she and Ritchie adopted a son, David Banda. (David’s mother had died from childbirth complications; his father, Yohane Banda, who had placed him in an orphanage, met with Madonna and Guy Ritchie and consented to the adoption.) The story made headlines: Had a celebrity flouted local adoption laws by not establishing residency? Did David’s father understand the arrangement? “I expect to be given a hard time about many of the things I do. I know they are provocative, and I prepare myself,” said Madonna in response to the dustup. “But I did not expect the media, the government or any human rights organizations to take a stand against me trying to save a child’s life.” The adoption was finalized, and three years later, after she ‘IT WAS LIKE A WHOLE NEW WORLD. I’M A L ATE BLOOMER, BUT HEY, BETTER L ATE THAN NEVER’ —MADONNA, ON LEARNING THE GUITAR MADONNA PEOPLE 77 PAIR OF QUEENS The Queen of Pop met Elizabeth II at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2002 for the premiere of the James Bond movie Die Another Day, for which Madonna recorded the theme song.
and Ritchie divorced , Madonna would return to Malawi, where she was building a girls’ school, to adopt a daughter, Mercy James. “Helping people is like tattoos,” Madonna would tell People. “Once you get a tattoo, you keep getting them. It’s addicting. You see the diff erence you’re making in one person’s life, so what’s the big deal if I help one more person and one more person?” Perhaps hoping to reach more kids, Madonna added children’s author to her résumé by writing a series of storybooks . The fi rst, titled The English Roses, topped the The New York Times Children’s Picture Books bestseller list. Of course she was still Madonna and didn’t forget the grownups. She wrote and directed her fi rst movie, Filth & Wisdom, about three London fl atmates: an aspiring Ukrainian rock star who moonlights as a dominatrix, a dancer earning rent by stripping and a pharmacist who longs to help African children. Filth debuted at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival and earned the sorts of reviews that would not necessarily inspire a woman to quit ‘[EARLY ON] I THOUGHT EVERYTHING WAS ABOUT HAVING EVERYONE ADORE YOU. . . . SOMEHOW I FELL INTO MUSIC’ —MADONNA , 2003 THE 2000s 78 READY FOR HER CLOSE- UP Madonna, who had recently released Confessions on a Dance Floor, thrilled a Coachella festival crowd in Indio, Calif., 2006. Below: In New York City she made a new fan, 18-month-old Jeremy Zorek, at a reading and signing of her bestselling children’s book The English Roses, 2003.
MADONNA PEOPLE 79 WORKING IT Madonna and Missy Elliott teamed up for a fall 2003 campaign for the Gap (above).
80 A FILM EVERYONE CAN SEE! Madonna, Guy Ritchie and children Rocco and Lourdes arrive at the 2007 London premiere of Arthur and the Invisibles, in which Madonna voiced the character of Princess Selenia.
her day job, which naturally Madonna did not. She released Hard Candy, her 11th studio LP and seventh to reach No. 1, in 2008. With its single “4 Minutes,” she surpassed Elvis Presley to become the artist with the most Top 10 singles—the song was her 37th to make that Billboard list. She inked a $120 million deal with concert promoter Live Nation to handle all her future music and music - related businesses. At the same time, in her fi rst year of eligibility, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She was introduced by Justin Timberlake in an innuendo-fi lled speech. (Madonna was always “a woman on top,” he noted to chuckles.) But the artist herself seemed genuinely moved by the vote and from the podium thanked the many people who had been her champions—and those who had been her harshest critics. Through the years, she said, people had charged that she was “talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing, that I was a one-hit wonder. They inspired me because they made me question myself repeatedly, pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance.” At 49, Madonna remained the world’s biggest pop star, while also becoming a legend. MADONNA PEOPLE 81 ROCK STAR Madonna invited Justin Timberlake to join her on her 2008 hit about climate change “4 Minutes.” He returned the favor, inducting her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. THE 2000s
‘I REMEMBER THINKING, “I HAVE SO MUCH, AND I DON’T FEEL LIKE I’M DOING ENOUGH” ’ —MADONNA , ON HER REASONS FOR STARTING R AISING MAL AWI 82 MADONNA PEOPLE
THE 2000s 83 USING HER SPOTLIGHT Madonna at the premiere of her documentary I Am Because We Are, which brought attention to the AIDS crisis in Malawi, the African nation where she has focused her charitable work.
84 “BITCH, I’M MADONNA” The Queen of Pop has earned the right to do (and sing) what she wants. Often what she wants to do is dance, as at this 2022 DiscOasis event in New York City.
“the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around,” Madonna said at an event honoring her as Billboard’s 2016 Woman of the Year. She had entered the era of career-capping accolades, at a time when many artists slow down, refl ect and appear in public mainly to accept their laurels. A generation younger than the still-at-it Rolling Stones, Madonna, then 58, was nonetheless grateful to have come that far. “Michael [Jackson] is gone,” she told the crowd. “Tupac is gone. Prince is gone. Whitney is gone. Amy Winehouse is gone. David Bowie is gone. But I’m still standing. I’m one of the lucky ones, and every day I count my blessings.” As a young woman with a few hits, Madonna had told Dick Clark in 1984 that she planned to “rule the world.” She made good on her promise and, in an industry that values youth and novelty above all, endured through a will to hold the spotlight, even as stars from Britney to Beyoncé to Billie Eilish came up in her wake. “I felt like I wanted to follow the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire,” Beyoncé said on why she founded her own entertainment MADONNA TODAY H A V I N G R E A C H E D T H E L I F E - A C H I E V E M E N T E R A , M A D O N N A A C C E P T E D T H E A C C O L A D E S W I T H G R ATITU D E—AN D J US T KEPT O N B y JED GOTTLIEB MADONNA PEOPLE 85
‘I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY MOTHER. . . THIS IS THE STORY OF THE JOURNEY OF A FEMALE SOUL’ —MADONNA , AT THE NEW YORK CIT Y PREMIERE OF W.E. 86 MADONNA PEOPLE
MADONNA TODAY and management company. Many newer artists have sung her praises and credited her with inspiring their own paths. Adele said Ray of Light infl uenced her writing on 25. Taylor Swift pointed to Like a Prayer as helping to create 1989. One fan, Nicki Minaj, literally went on record with her feelings, declaring, “There’s only one queen, and that’s Madonna, bitch” at the end Madonna’s track “I Don’t Give A,” which featured the hip-hop star. While she accepted a new generation’s debts of gratitude, Madonna still preferred to compete with those acts for chart positions and pop primacy. In 2012 alone, she released her fi fth-consecutive No. 1 album, MDNA, and a record-extending 38th Top 10 single, “Give Me All Your Luvin’. ” She was canny about appearing alongside younger artists, to both mix it up creatively and broaden her reach. At the Super Bowl she shared the stage with Minaj, M.I.A. and others. Together they drew more viewers than the game itself . For 2015’s LP Rebel Heart, she worked with Kanye West, Diplo and more new collaborators, earning some appreciative nods from critics, if not the sort of sales she’d grown used to enjoying. Still, the corresponding tour found Madonna in a lighter mood onstage—a confetti canon and a ukulele fi gured into her act—while TV audiences caught her gamely promoting the album by twerking in the passenger seat during “Carpool Karaoke” on The Late Show with James Corden. Her 14th studio album, 2019’s Madame X, recorded in Lisbon, where she has a home, was embraced as a successfully oddball departure, mixing Latin rhythms with techno. A reviewer for The (Continued on page 91) DIRECTOR’S CHAIR In 2010 Madonna helmed the historical romance W.E. with James D’Arcy and Andrea Riseborough (of To Leslie) as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
GET TOGETHER Back row, left to right: Debi Mazar, Gloria Steinem, Madonna and (front row) Amy Schumer attended the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21, 2017 . POP ROYALTY Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Madonna and Beyoncé show some love at a 2015 launch party for streaming service Tidal . MADONNA TODAY
MADONNA PEOPLE 89 FEARLESS Taylor Swift lends a hand on Madonna’s single “Ghosttown” during the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
‘IT’S INEXPLICABLE. IT’S LIKE SAYING, “WHY DO YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PEOPLE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH? ” ’ —MADONNA , ON BONDING WITH HER CHILDREN 90 OPEN YOUR HEART Madonna with two of her kids, David and Mercy James, in 2013 at a classroom at Mkoko Primary School, one of the schools her Raising Malawi organization helped build. MADONNA TODAY
Guardian called it “her most bizarre album ever” even as he awarded it four stars. During this period she also became a mother of six, by adopting twins Stella and Estere from Malawi. There in 2017 she opened the Mercy James Centre for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care, the country’s first children’s hospital. The ribbon cutting was a family effort. Son Rocco, a budding artist, painted a mural at the site. David performed a dance with boys from a local school, and daughter Mercy—the facility’s namesake—gave a moving speech. (Oldest child Lourdes was away at college, “but she was there in spirit!” Madonna said.) She seemed proud but unconcerned with them emulating her professionally. Rather, she told People at the time, “I want my kids to be loving, decent, compassionate human beings. I try to set a good example. But it’s been a roller-coaster ride.” She is, it should be noted, an icon also of work-life balance. That song with the shout-out from Nicki Minaj finds Madonna singing: “Wake up, ex-wife/ This is your life/Children, on your own/Turning on the telephone/Messages, manager/No time for a manicure/Working out, shake my ass/I know how to multitask . . .” As if to prove the point, in January 2023, Madonna announced the Celebration Tour. She surprised fans with the news via a star-studded video—Lil Wayne! Jack Black! Bob the Drag Queen!—that coyly riffed on the Truth or Dare documentary. The black-and-white clip closed with Amy Schumer saying, “Madonna, I dare you to do a world tour!” Days after the video, hundreds of thousands of Madonna lovers rushed to ticket- (Continued from page 87) MADONNA PEOPLE 91 TEAMWORK Madonna and her children Mercy James (left) and David Banda (right) with BuildOn director Maurice Muchene. BuildOn worked with the singer’s charity Raising Malawi to build schools in the country.
92 MADONNA TODAY FAMILY ACT Madonna and son Rocco, then 12, perform on opening night of the 2012 MDNA North America tour in Philadelphia.
ing sites to sell out three dozen dates. The shows were later postponed when Madonna underwent treatment for an infection. In June she dropped a new collaboration with the Weeknd and Playboi Carti, “Popular,” followed by a duet with Sam Smith, “Vulgar.” The singles gave her a Billboard chart presence in fi ve decades. Add that to the pile of milestones: highest-grossing female touring performer of all time and bestselling female recording artist. Not to mention three—count ’em!— ex-communications by the Vatican (at least by her estimation in 2022, when she reached out to Pope Francis on Twitter) . Madonna, who turns 65 in 2023, earned the right to take a holiday. She has spent 40 years writing, recording and performing music that some might dismiss as disposable pop. But at each stage she has served sharp hooks and sing-along choruses, along with bursts of wisdom, defi ance and inarguable genius that you can dance to. She has outlasted critics who called her a passing craze. She defi ed sexism and, later, the double-whammy of sexism and ageism. At the 2023 Grammys to introduce the fi rst openly transgender winner (Kim Petras), Madonna felt the wrath of trolls talking about her appearance. On Instagram she railed against “a world that refuses to celebrate women past the age of 45 and feels the need to punish her if she continues to be strongwilled, hardworking and adventurous.” Then she just kept on, as she had since her early days when she slid her personal philosophy into a track on the Like a Virgin album singing: “It doesn’t matter who you are/ It’s what you do that takes you far/ And if at fi rst you don’t succeed/ Here’s some advice that you should heed/ You get up again, over and over . . .” MADONNA PEOPLE 93 BRING THE KIDS Above: with son David at the 2014 Grammys. Top right: with daughters Estere, Mercy and Stella at the opening of a hospital the star funded in Malawi, 2017. Right: with Rocco and Lourdes at a 2022 Tom Ford show.
‘IT WAS A WONDERFUL FAMILY REUNION AND QUITE THE FASHION THROWBACK’ —EYOB YOHANNES, ST YLIST FOR MADONNA’S 2018 MET GALA LOOK MADONNA TODAY 94 MADONNA PEOPLE CONFESSIONS Madonna and designer Jean Paul Gaultier at the 2018 Met Gala when the theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.”
FRONT COVER (1985) Photographed by Ken Regan/ Camera 5; (2012) Kevin Mazur/ WireImage/Getty Images TITLE PAGE 1 De Laurentiis/Propaganda/Boy Toy/ Kobal/Shutterstock TABLE OF CONTENTS 2-3 Stefania D’Alessandro/Getty Images STAGES OF HER LIFE 4-5 Jean-François Rault/Sygma/Getty Images; 6-7 Ross Marino/Icon and Image/Getty Images; 8-9 (clockwise from left) Paul Natkin/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur Archive/WireImage(2); Alamy; 10-11 (clockwise from bottom left) Eugene Adebari/Shutterstock; Thierry Orban/Sygma/Getty Images; Frank Micelotta/Getty Images; 12-13 Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images; 14-15 Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images; 16-17 (clockwise from left) Kevin Mazur/ WireImage; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Gregory Pace/Shutterstock; 18-19 Courtesy Stu Fish ©2021 Paramount+, Inc. All Rights Reserved. AMERICAN LIFE 20-21 (from left) Alamy; Michael McDonnell/Archive Photos/Getty Images; 22-23 (from left) Seth Poppel Yearbook Library(2); Rebel Images/ Shutterstock; 24-25 (from left) Michael McDonnell/Archive/Getty Images(4); Mediapunch/Shutterstock GET INTO THE GROOVE 26-27 Brian Aris/Camera Press/Redux; 28-29 (from left) Kees Tabak/Hollandse Hoogte/Redux; DMI/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock; 30-31 (from left) Alamy; DMI/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock; Alamy; 32-33 Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock; 34-35 (from left) Globe Photos/Zuma; Ken Regan/Camera 5; 36-37 (from left) Ross Marino/Icon and Image/Getty Images; Alamy; 38-39 (from left) Crollalanza/ Shutterstock; Shutterstock; Alamy; 40-41 (clockwise from left) DMI/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock; Gerald Herbert/AP; Laura Luongo/Liaison/ Getty Images 42-43 Brad Elterman/ FilmMagic/Getty Images 44-45 (clockwise from left) Orion Pictures/Entertainment Pictures /Zuma; Alamy; Kobal/ Handmade/Mgm/Kobal/ Shutterstock; Warner Bros/Kobal/ Shutterstock; (inset) Alamy CAUSING A COMMOTION 46-47 (clockwise from left) Unimedia International/Shutterstock; Photofest; Crollalanza/Shutterstock; 48-49 (clockwise from bottom left) Photofest; Camilla Zenz/Zuma; Marc Morrison/Redux; Kevin Mazur/ WireImage; Dave Hogan/Getty Images YOU MUST LOVE ME 50-51 Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect/ Getty Images 52-53 (from left) Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs/Getty Images; Andy Earl/Camera Press/Redux 54-55 (from left) Shutterstock; Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images 56-57 Eric Robert/ Sygma/Getty Images; 58-59 (from left) Sam Mircovich/ Reuters/Redux; Chris Pizzello/AFP/ GettyImages; Margaret Norton/ NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal / Getty Images; 60-61 (from left) Richard Corkery/NY Daily News/Getty Images; Pierre Vauthey/Sygma/Getty Images; 62-63 (from left) Kevin Mazur/ WireImage/Getty Images; Uppa/Zuma; 64-65 (from left) Frank Micelotta/ ImageDirect/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; 66-67 (clockwise from left) Photofest; Snap/Shutterstock; Dino De Laurentiis Company/Getty Images; Fox Searchlight/Getty Images; Alamy; (inset) Alamy; Moviestore/ Shutterstock ICONIC DON’T-MISS MOMENTS 68-69 (clockwise from top right) Alamy; Photofest; Orion/Kobal/ Shutterstock; 70-71 (clockwise from top) Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images(2); Cinergi/Kobal/Shutterstock LIVE TO TELL 72-73 Mario Tama/Getty Images; 74-75 (from left) Zuma; Alamy; 76-77 (from left) Frank Micelotta/Getty Images; Tim Clarke/AFP/Getty Images; 78-79 (clockwise from top left) Hubert Boesl/Alamy; The Gap/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; 80-81 (clockwise from left) Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images; Scott Gries/ Getty Images; Lucas Jackson/Reuters/ Redux; 82-83 Sean Gallup/Getty Images TAKE A BOW 84-85 Gotham/GC Images/Getty Images; 86-87(from left) Anthony Souza/Semtex/Kobal/Shutterstock; Kristin Callahan/Everett ; 88-89 (clockwise from bottom left) Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/ WireImage/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/ Getty Images; 90-91 Amos Gumulira/ AFP/Getty Images(2); 92-93 (clockwise from left) Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images; Dan MacMedan/WireImage/Getty Images; Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters/Redux; Dimitrios Kambouris /Getty Images; 94 Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images; 96 Alan Singer/NBCU Photo Bank/ NBCUniversal/Getty Images BACK COVER (clockwise from top left) Photofest; Alamy; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Eugene Adebari/Shutterstock PEOPLE President Leah Wyar Editor Wendy Naugle VP/Group General Manager, Digital Zoe Ruderman Creative Director Andrea Dunham Director of Photography Ilana Schweber Director of Editorial Operations Alexandra Brez PEOPLE BOOKS Editor Allison Adato Art Director Greg Monfries Contributing Art Director Lisa Kennedy Senior Photo Editor C. Tiffany Lee Contributing Photo Editor Louis Pearlman Writers Jed Gottlieb, Daniel S. Levy Reporter Mary Hart Copy Desk Joanann Scali (Chief), James Bradley (Deputy), Gabrielle Danchick, Rich Donnelly, Shakthi Jothianandan, Dan Morrssey, Matt Weingarden (Copy Editors) Production Designer Lori Cervone Premedia Trafficking Supervisor Kayla Story Associate Director Premedia Imaging Michael Sturtz Color Quality Analyst Rob Roszkowski PEOPLE Public Relations Marnie Perez DOTDASH MEREDITH PREMIUM PUBLISHING Vice President & General Manager Jeremy Biloon Vice President, Group Editorial Director Stephen Orr Senior Director, Brand Marketing Jean Kennedy Associate Director, Brand Marketing Katherine Barnet Senior Manager, Brand Marketing Geoffrey Wohlgamuth Brand Manager, Brand Marketing Mia Rinaldi Editorial Director Kostya Kennedy Creative Director Gary Stewart Editorial Operations Director Jamie Roth Major Manager, Editorial Operations Gina Scauzillo Associate Manager, Editorial Operations Ariel Davis Special thanks Gabby Amello, Brad Beatson Copyright © 2023 Meredith Operations Corporation 225 Liberty Street • New York, NY 10281 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. For syndication requests or international licensing requests or reprint and reuse permission, email [email protected]. PRINTED IN THE USA CREDITS 95
WE’VE GOT A GREAT SHOW FOR YOU . . . In on the joke, Madonna used her first time hosting Saturday Night Live, in 1985, to send up how prying eyes and paparazzi swarmed her wedding that year to Sean Penn. (The groom was played in “home videos” by then-SNL cast member Robert Downey Jr.) Madonna also performed and capped her monologue by quashing a rumor: “I’m not pregnant.” 96 MADONNA PEOPLE
MADONNA THE QUEEN OF POP IN 130+ PHOTOS The Story of Her Rise and 40-Year Reign • More Than 50 Chart Hits • Her Style & Dazzling Shows PLUS Life Offstage: a Mom to Six The ’90s: the Blond Ambition tour. The ’80s: Desperately Seeking Susan (with Rosanna Arquette). Today: on tour, new music. The 2000s: “American Pie.”