Brazilian model Jesus Luz, 22, may have caught the interest of pop star Madonna, 50, for somewhat less superficial reasons than we all assumed. Luz bears a close resemblance to Madonna’s ex, Carlos Leon, and he also shares her interest in the mystical Jewish-based cult Kabbalah. According to the NY Post, Luz was studying Kabbalah at the insistence of his then-girlfriend at least six months before he met Madonna. It looks like his ex-girlfriend did all the heavy lifting and Madonna swooped in for the already-converted prize:
She’s always liked them hot, young and Latin, but Madonna’s latest boy toy has another special charm — he was a Kabbalist before they even met.
Jesus Luz, 22, immersed himself in the religion while he was still a struggling model in Rio de Janeiro. Since the late 1990s, Madonna has been an avid follower of the movement, which stems from Jewish mysticism and equates God to a ray of light.
“Madonna must have thought she met God when she found Jesus,” said a Kabbalah devotee in New York, noting that “Jesus Luz” translates from Portuguese as “Jesus Light.”
Leonardo Reis, manager of the Kabbalah Center in Rio, helped Luz with his studies starting in July 2008, six months before Jesus met Madonna.
“All I can say to you is that Madonna is really, really happy with Jesus,” Reis said. “When she found out he was into Kabbalah, they really started to hit it off.”
Reis organized a special Shabbat dinner for the couple and their friends after they met at a Rio photo shoot last December. The dinner, complete with lit candles and guests clothed in white, was held at sunset in Madonna’s luxe suite at the Copacabana Palace Hotel with its stunning views of the Atlantic.
Spirituality has always been a part of Luz’s life. His mother, Cristiane Regina da Silva, 37, is a member of the “Evangelicals,” a growing Protestant cult movement in Brazil. His father, an administrator at a public hospital in the Rio suburbs, says he decided to name his son Jesus because he admired the philosophy of Christ.
[From The NY Post]
I was really hoping this relationship was a mutual publicity stunt as it’s just too creepy to imagine Madonna with a kid 28 years her junior. It’s also skeevy when an older man snares a much-younger woman, but there’s something about Madonna that makes her seem so predatory. Model Jesus is probably thrilled to be along for the ride. He’s said to command six figures and up for fashion show appearances and just shot ads for Dolce & Gabbana. In comparison, he made just $100 for the two day shoot for W Magazine through which he met the pop star.
Last week there was a story that Jesus’ father claimed that Madonna and his son would marry in some kind of legally non-binding Kabbalah commitment ceremony. Madonna’s people denied that anything was in the works, but they also denied her first adoption of David Banda up until it was complete. I wonder how Madonna’s bid to adopt Mercy is going. Do you think she’ll send some support to Mercy’s family now that she can’t take her home?
Kabbalah should implement a course, How To Age Gracefully 101. Never being to LA I can’t imagine what kind of bubble is over that place. Reality slaps, all around.
Hes n0t dumb JeSus is milking $$$$$ it as much as he can, while he can.
Madonna with her last grasp of holding on to her youth, which by the way expired 12 years ago has turned into pathetic joke.
OMG! THOSE VAINY ARMS OF HERS ARE SO DISGUSTING! ACK!
have you noticed shes taken to wearing gloves, even she knows her crone/hag hands are ugly and scary
Rihanna was wearing gloves that night aswell, it’s a fashion trend. And I have read that she is atleast setting up a trustfund for Mercy if everything else fails.
I know plenty of women in their forties and fifties who look very youthful and appealing because they embrace their age and dress attractively and appropriately without sacrificing their style. Madonna, on the other hand, reeks of desperation and just looks plain silly most of the time. In these photos she looks like an aging street urchin/waif who found a pretty piece of fabric in some garbage can and tied it in her hair without looking in the mirror. (Hmmmmm, I don’t think she wants to interpret her haute couture outfit this way, but this is how I see it!) Poor pathetic woman…Trying to hang on to her youth with her fingernails, but instead she draws attention to her age with her ridiculous outfits. If I were Jesus’s mother, I would have to bite my tongue every time I was with my son.
I know plenty of women in their forties and fifties who look very youthful and appealing because they embrace their age and dress attractively and appropriately without sacrificing their style. Madonna, on the other hand, reeks of desperation and just looks plain silly most of the time. In these photos she looks like an aging street urchin/waif who found a pretty piece of fabric in some garbage can and tied it in her hair without looking in the mirror. (Hmmmmm, I don’t think she wants us to interpret her haute couture outfit this way, but if the fingerless glove fits…) She has turned into a pathetic, middle-aged woman–trying to hang on to her youth with her fingernails, but instead she draws attention to her age with her ridiculous outfits. If I were Jesus’s mother (who is fourteen years YOUNGER than Madonna), I would have to bite my tongue every time I was around her!
I know plenty of women in their forties and fifties who look very youthful and appealing because they embrace their age and dress attractively and appropriately without sacrificing their style. Madonna, on the other hand, reeks of desperation and just looks plain silly most of the time. In these photos she looks like an aging street urchin/waif who found a pretty piece of fabric in some garbage can and tied it in her hair without looking in the mirror. (Hmmmmm, I don’t think she wants us to interpret her haute couture outfit this way, but if the fingerless glove fits…) She has turned into a pathetic, age-obsessed woman–trying to hang on to her youth with her fingernails–but instead she draws attention to her (middle)age with her ridiculous outfits. If I were Jesus’s mother (who is fourteen years YOUNGER than Madonna), I would have to bite my tongue every time I was around her!
Maybe Madonna doesn’t want to age gracefully. Remember Dylan Thomas’ immortal lines, “Don’t go gentle into that good night/Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” So if Madonna wants to go into her later years in a totally characteristic and kick-ass manner, more power to her. I, for one, wouldn’t relish a tasteful and tame Madonna. She’s a pop star, after all, so why should the show end now?
Why does she always need a man on her arm? Is she that insecure?