Madonna covers the latest issue of British Vogue to promote her latest album, Madame X. Madge chose to be brunette for this editorial, and I definitely prefer it. I’ve always preferred Madonna as a brunette – the darker color really brings out her best features and softens her, I find. These days, Madonna has had so much face work done, there’s no really “softening” though. As for the interview, Madonna says some interesting stuff about feminism, ageism and ladies supporting ladies. Some highlights:
People tried to silence her: “People have always been trying to silence me for one reason or another, whether it’s that I’m not pretty enough, I don’t sing well enough, I’m not talented enough, I’m not married enough, and now it’s that I’m not young enough. So they just keep trying to find a hook to hang their beef about me being alive on. Now I’m fighting ageism, now I’m being punished for turning 60.”
On Lady Gaga: “People got very excited about [the thought of Lady Gaga and myself as] enemies, when we never were enemies.”
Whether women supported her: Madonna has not felt particularly supported by women throughout her career. She is grateful for the artists who worked against all odds and defied convention before her, such as Frida Kahlo. “There are no living role models for me. Because nobody does what I do. And that’s kind of scary. I can look back at women who I think were great and amazing – freedom fighters, like Simone de Beauvoir or Angela Davis – but they didn’t have kids. Being a single parent of six children, I continue to be creative and be an artist and be politically active, to have a voice, to do all the things that I do. So I mean, there isn’t anybody in my position.”
She doesn’t allow 13-year-old son David to have a phone yet. “I’m going to stick that one out for as long as possible, because I made a mistake when I gave my older children phones when they were 13. It ended my relationship with them, really. Not completely, but it became a very, very big part of their lives. They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.”
She sees herself in her son David. “What he has more than anything is focus and determination. I’m pretty sure he got it from me. He’s the one I have the most in common with. I feel like he gets me; he has more of my DNA than any of my children so far. Let’s see what happens – it’s still early days for everyone.”
On her firstborn, Lola: She “is insanely talented. I’m green with envy because she’s incredible at everything she does – she’s an incredible dancer, she’s a great actress, she plays the piano beautifully, she’s way better than me in the talent department. But she doesn’t have the same drive, and again, I feel social media plagues her and makes her feel like, ‘People are going to give me things because I’m her daughter.’ I try to give her examples of other children of celebrities like Zoë Kravitz, for instance, who have to work through that ‘Oh yeah, you’re the daughter of…’ – and then eventually you are taken seriously for what you do. You just have to keep going. But does she have the same drive that I have? No. But she also has a mother, and I didn’t. She grew up with money, and I didn’t. So everything is going to be different. But what can I do? I can’t fixate on it. I just have to do my best.”
A psychiatrist would have a field day with all of these quotes, my lord. I think those quotes about Lola are difficult to read because… well, Lola clearly doesn’t want to BE anything like her mom, and it’s driving Madonna crazy because Madonna knows Lola could be even bigger than her. It drives her crazy that she, the most ambitious hustler in music, raised a daughter who doesn’t share any sense of those ambitions.
As for there being no one else in her position, as a single mom of six kids… um, Angelina Jolie says hi. Angelina has a better claim to “women don’t support me” too. Women have always supported Madonna, let’s be real. Not ALL women, but millions of women.
Photos courtesy of British Vogue.
She has some good points but you have to trudge through her huge ego And narcissism to hear it. Imagine her as your mom? For all her good qualities, she can drive you away.
Also does Lola really want personal issues discussed?
after reading these quotes, it’s no wonder rocco fled to live with his dad in england. he probably felt completely smothered by her.
She is a total narcissist.
SHE DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS IRL!!!!
I’m so f*ckin’ sick and tired of the Photoshop
Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretchmarks
– Kendrick Lamar
@meh: Right?!! She now looks like Marilyn Manson with her massive cheek implants.
In the 80s I loved her “look” -the fishnet tights under torn jeans and bushy eyebrows…but even at age 13 we thought of her music/dance & voice as pure schmaltz. Corny. Yeah, she money milked as a culture vulture, but now, the “worship me” scream is deafening!
In one of many books on narcissism that I’ve read, the author publicly quoted Trump, Madonna and Sarah Palin as classic narcissists.
Interesting!! Who else?
She is hiding behind ageism. She can’t hold a note, that is what her problem is. There are enough older singers that are cherished and adored. Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey. I could go on. Noone ever tells them to stop, because they grace us with their talent. Madonnas talent was her ability to shock. And that is no longer working.
She is STILL *TRYING* to shock, only thing is, we’ve seen it all before with her. She has nothing left in the bag of tricks. We’ve seen her naked, simulating sex, etc…. She’s not a great singer (never was), couldn’t act to save her life; she could write a decent /catchy song, put on an extravagant show…but that’s about it.
Bingo!! No one is silencing her; they’re just not buying what she’s selling because it no longer resonates. Has she done anything good since Ray of Light?
I liked Confessions a bunch.
that’s not fair. her talent wasn’t just the ability to shock. she is very creative, innovative, determined, entertaining and interesting. even her voice had a beautiful colour even though it wasn’t a great voice. also she had so many songs that were both hits and high quality melodies and deep lyrics. she deserved all the fame she got.
I’ve never been a fan but the first few years she was around, no one was doing what she was doing. Still, her voice isn’t really great. I don’t want or need to hear her sing.
I love the people on this site here criticizing Madonna, saying she can’t sing or carry a tune. She had trouble in early years with note placement & unless you study music or write it, you won’t know how hard that is until you try to sing. When the notes all sound the same to you? Madonna studied & practiced until she got it down. There are people who are naturally gifted with half the drive of Madonna & then there’s Madonna. She states this many times. But she can entertain, she’s driven & she’s smart.
I kinda have to argue here on the subject that “she can entertain”. I was in the audience while she was performing in Tel Aviv 2 weeks ago for Eurovision finale.
Let me tell you – it was awful and embarrassing. And I am saying that being a Madonna fan through the majority of her career.
She can not hold a tune while performing live and you could feel the audience being schocked about the poor quality of her peeformance.
I give her huge credit for the work she’s don for all these years, but I am not rushing to her concerts any more
OMG yes! She’s got a serious chip on her shoulder. The think is, no one is punishing her for being 60, there are some sexy as hell over 60 women, but they dress in a way that’s sexy for their age. Madonna continues to try to be “sexy” the same way she was sexy in her 20’s- 30’s. She thinks she’s evolved, but she hasn’t. Everyone thinks she’s great at reinventing herself, but the old brand of sexy and being “provocative” is all she knows how to do.
Cher is older than Madonna by some years and still has fans, even younger ones. I think Madonna is conflating ageism with people finding her intensely unlikable.
Also she wasn’t that great to begin with honestly! She had some catchy songs but she wasn’t one of the great voices of her cohort. Nor was she a great actress or dancer.
Yeah, Cher is just cool. Madonna constantly feels try-hard. I can’t imagine trying SO HARD at 60.
So does Dolly Parton! Even people who do really care for country music love Dolly.
Yes Dolly Parton as well! She is a genuine person and genuinely talented 🙂
Define great..
Admittedly true her voice talent is not off the charts, but is gifted at self-promotion and never apologized for it. Men self-promote all of the time. I think we tend to put down women who are self-promotors. Show business attracts narcissists, you have to be a narcissist to believe you can pull an entire stadium’s worth of tickets and need that kind of attention.
She is what she is, and sorry honey, age-ism is also tough if you’re not famous and moreover you have less resources to fall back on. So tiny violin for that complaint.
I prefer a comment of Madonnas that was not covered on this site which was, to paraphrase “When I gave my kids a cell I lost my relationship with them.” Isnt she great? tbh Todays quote just sounds like standard ‘My kid is awesome.’ I struggle to watch her nowadays tho. I mean. Gas masks in Israel. Oh Rly.
Her music should have stayed on a grown up sound like Ray of Light, Music and even América Life. She now tries too Hard to be like the rest, not doing her own thing.
Even this justice warrior persona is so obviously fake and trying to reach younger folks. Be the diva you have always been. Embrace it like Mariah. Are we suppossed to ignore all her diva moments and feuds when she talks about women supporting each other? Come on!
Respect to Madonna, she was one of the first fighting, in her way, to women rights and freedom (sexual freedom). An about ageism, women start to feel pressure after 35, i cant imagine being 60. And after all, she looks like a great mom, who would say it years ago.
I’ve always loved Madonna, but not her recent, mockable forays into hip-hop and pop and “reinvention” as she is always equated with…the grillz and eye patches and overdone Joan of Arc-MadameX crap just looks plain dumb and try-hard as said above. She was from the early eighties when MTV first began and was only music (not silly reprehensible tv shows) and that was my generation. We had she and Prince and so many other SUPERSTARS (I hesitate to mention MJ). It was truly fun. The music scene in LA was on fire. Everyone I knew were in bands supporting one another in the clubs. But, she was not one of the first fighting for women’s rights and sexual freedom…the first to be given that credit came more than a decade before her fame. She was fun but had a rotten disposition and was too self-aggrandized and self-motivated to be given credit for the intentional advancement of anyone but herself and her career. I am 55. The best advice for middle age is to find grace and embrace the good parts of aging. The best advice for the young is never doubt your beauty or body. Your beauty will fade and so will your body so love it just as it is, flaws and all. When you get old and look back you will realize how perfect you were.
nailed it! “when you get old and look back you will realize how perfect you were.” TRUTH!
Well said, CA family code.
Women’s rights? This is the woman who walked around wearing a ‘Boy Toy’ belt buckle. I remember the shock and horror a lot of women felt after her ‘Like a Virgin’ performance. Madonna benefited from the work that real feminists did while she pretended to be ‘edgy’ by copying gay, Black and Latina style.
Madonna is fighting ageism because she spent so much of her career giving the impression that aging was a bad thing for a woman to do. Now she’s 60 and she’s stuck.
And did this trick REALLY compare herself to Angela Davis?
“Women’s rights? This is the woman who walked around wearing a ‘Boy Toy’ belt buckle. I remember the shock and horror a lot of women felt after her ‘Like a Virgin’ performance.”
And? You seem to be conflating women’s rights with a woman trying to earn respect by proving she isn’t one of the easy girls (a message that is definitely the reason why some women have been horrified by her immodest performances, like the one you cited). That’s discrimination, not equality.
@otaku fairy: The majority of women who felt shock and horror at Madonna’s performance were feminists, at least the ones I knew. They couldn’t believe that a woman was writhing on the ground talking about being ‘shiny and new’. Like a virgin. She wasn’t celebrating ‘not being an easy(?) girl’. Quite the opposite in fact.
That song was basically about amazing love that erases past romantic and sexual experiences that didn’t turn out so good, or just don’t compare. Traditional values folks were the ones most upset about it then (from what I’ve heard) and they’re the ones who still yammer the most about the it today when Madonna or other women they’re afraid of for sexual reasons comes up. The fact that some of the people who joined in then and still join in now with the right’s policing of female sexuality were or are feminists (and they don’t speak for all of us) is a lot less meaningful when SWERFs, TERFs, and even biphobic feminists are actual things that exist in the movement.
Feminists are still products of their environment like everyone else. Just being a member of any particular group doesn’t make one tolerant of other members of that group whose experiences and preferences around their sexuality and physical appearance differ from their own. Identifying as a member of a movement doesn’t make a woman immune to that patriarchal entitlement that drives her to implicitly or explicitly demand that all women present themselves and express sexuality only in ways she deems fit, that makes her insist that other women owe it to her to live up to that image, or that tells her she’s justified in disrespecting, excluding, scapegoating, or abusing any who refuse to live up to that image.
“Respect to Madonna, she was one of the first fighting, in her way, to women rights and freedom (sexual freedom).”
Nope, please read up on women’s history, Madonna wasn’t one of the “first”, not even close.
Madonna (and her fans) can claim that she was a pioneer in fighting for sexual freedom (HA!) like Frida Kahlo and Angela Davis (HAHAHAHAHA!!!) but those of us who were there remember it very differently. Madonna was a throwback not a pioneer.
Uhmmm… “David has more of my DNA than any of the others…” Isn’t David adopted? Aren’t Rocco and Lola her only “birth” kids? Obviously she misspoke, and he is just emulating her traits, having grown up with her, seeing her mannerisms and how she does/handles things. He IS her son, but can’t have her DNA, unless there’s something she’s hidden for a LONG time! lol
Isnt she saying that David has ambition & drive like she used to. Shes thinks shes giving him a huge compliment. So un pc of a poster to differentiate between born & adopted kids. Naughty.
I”M not differentiating. MADONNA claimed that (from the quoted article above): “She sees herself in her son David. “What he has more than anything is focus and determination. I’m pretty sure he got it from me. He’s the one I have the most in common with. I feel like he gets me; he has more of my DNA than any of my children so far. Let’s see what happens – it’s still early days for everyone.”
Reading comprehension is your friend 😊
It’s quite clear, Madonna is speaking figuratively here.
There are so many things about Madonna that really bug me, but I’ll say this: 1.) That cover photo is lovely. 2.) “They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.” — I think that’s really thoughtful. I even kind of like her comments about Lola here, although I’m not sure I would if I was Lola.
I agree. I think her and Lola are probably in really difficult positions because, like she said, Madonna wasn’t rich and didn’t have a mum, so i’m sure Madge has some jealousy or ‘count yourself lucky’ kind of hang ups towards L, for better or worse.
Chris Rock does a funny bit about how he hated rich kids growing up, and now he has rich kids, so he has to hate his own kids. Exaggerating obviously but I still thought it was funny
I was raised by an alpha father with a gigantic ego and too much success on his life.
I refused to follow his path because I knew that would have destroyed me. I cannot even imagine how must be to deal with Madonna who. I would change galaxy
“They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.”
Could this not describe Madonna herself…?
Absolutely!!
I can kind of understand what she is saying about Lola, but its an example of where maybe you don’t have to say everything you think, lol. My kid is much younger but I can see talent and ability in him that I never had, but he’s just not that driven. I’m not worried about it, because I think he’s going to be fine regardless, but I kind of want to give him a little push sometimes. But like Arya would say, “that’s not him.” And that’s perfectly okay.
But I’m not giving interviews and talking about him like that lol.
I also do get what she is saying about being the one with kids (meaning in comparison to other women who broke down barriers), because she did break down so many barriers for women, BUT she did that before she had kids. (and she has 6 kids now?? I had no idea.) It’s not like she had kids in the 80s and 90s when she was the biggest star in the world.
I remember when she turned 40, and VH1 and MTV acted like it was the end of an era, and like Madonna was old. Now that I’m 37, I’m like…..what was the big deal? lol.
I think ageism may play a role in how Madonna is perceived, but I also think her music right now isn’t really good, and that plays a bigger role, ha. Also, she was so edgy for so long that its kind of like – what else are you going to do?
Yeah, I can kind of get what Madonna means, but like you said, it doesn’t mean she necessarily needs to say it to an interviewer, lol. Poor Lola.
And as much as people want to hate on her in these comments, I DO think ageism plays a role. Of course, I also think Madonna has internalized some of that ageism (what woman hasn’t?) and so she’s struggling.
Yeah I don’t think she was saying there’s no other famous single mothers with multiple kids. Jolie and her career isn’t anything like Madonna’s and I don’t think there’s a comparison or that that’s what she meant just because “Jolie is famous and polarizing and is a single mom to kids”. Jolie is awesome and I’m a fan and she’s a great actress and activist, but she was one of the original nepotism kids and she’s never been groundbreaking or had to hustle, sorry.
She’s fighting her age so hard, she’s obviously not accepting it any better than the people she claims are ageist against her. And her new butt is ridiculous. I can’t take her seriously at all anymore.
I totally agree, looking at what she has done to her face…that is not the face of someone who is ok with what they see in the mirror.
Original Tessa, YES! Don’t complain when you can’t accept either. And agree with Kaiser, she’s had way more women cheering for her than most so she need to not play that card. She was my IDOL!!! Material girl, boy toy, I remember it all. But she definitely was the IT girl and not many can say that.
Yes, there is a difference between ageism and people calling out plastic surgery.
That’s kind of like shutting down another woman’s conversation about fat-shaming with, “But you’ve lost weight” or, “but you’ve had some unhealthy patterns around dieting and exercise,” though. Or shutting down a conversation about victim-blaming with, ‘but you dress super classy or pretty conservatively”. The list could go on and on.
I see it more like a woman who’s anorexic getting upset when people don’t praise her for being skinny. I see it differently. She wants so badly for people to still see her as young, when I think people just want to accept her for her age. They’re not discriminating against her age, imo, but her absolute freakish attempt to fight it. Like anyone that distorts themselves and doesn’t get the reaction they want.
Not really. She’s more like the female celebrity who loses weight and talks about being fat-shamed or the cautiously modest woman who criticizes the messages about victim-blaming she’s gotten. Both can still be attention-seeking, and both are making choices that are in line with certain expectations that are pushed on women professionally or morally, but neither is on board with some of the ways those expectations are enforced by others. One thing I’ve noticed about Madonna is that some of the same people who trash her for getting work done and not presenting the way a woman who’s old enough to be a grandmother ‘should’ is that they’ll also slam her for things about her body that do show signs of aging. The message toward her is very, “How dare you dress and act like a 20-something liberal loose woman (who we’d still be insisting is too young and ‘exploited’ to have the agency to dress and act like that anyway) without having the body of a 20-something loose woman, but also shame on you for wishing you could forever look like that 20-something loose liberal woman. We’re better than you because we don’t focus on physical appearance, even though we always crap women for their physical appearance choices!”
At this point she’s probably way past actively wanting attention for the work she’s had done, and just wants people to stop harping on it every time she comes up just so they can go on about being more woke than her over it.
I dunno don’t they kind of go hand in hand? I see ageism and it makes me feel badly about seeing my own aging face in the mirror. It does make me want to appear younger knowing people treat you different for it. So I don’t see why getting work done would preclude one from shouting out ageism and how it sucks. It’s like how I hate putting on make up everyday and think it’s a sexist standard, but I still do it because people are nicer to me when I’m wearing it and I get more respect at work.
Yeah, the work she’s obviously done just kind of reinforces the fact (at least to me) that she’s probably internalized a lot of the ageism she’s complaining about. It doesn’t mean she’s wrong, just that she’s also probably trying to come to grips with what it means to be sixty and, well, Madonna. I feel kind of sorry for her, because she doesn’t seem particularly content with herself or her life (or her kids).
Yeah, I mean, I honestly have some compassion for her. I’m 42 and starting to really see and feel the ageism. When you’ve taken your youth and youthful appearance for granted for so long, it’s pretty arresting and difficult to begin to realize just how hostile our culture is toward aging women. And you have to decide how to handle it. I’m not in the spotlight like she is. I can’t really fault someone for going her direction with all that work if your entire life is lived publicly, even if it’s not something I’d choose. I wish we had a culture that was more welcoming to aging women and didn’t make us feel invisible and sexless and worthless.
+1. It also seems like the people wanting to condemn her for acting on discomfort with signs of getting older are pretending to forget that loss of conventional beauty isn’t the only reason why some women could want to get rid of those signs. it’s easy to see why people with certain personalities and lifestyles wouldn’t be too happy to keep seeing reminders about the other things that come with getting old either, on top of the extra gender-based pressures around beauty.
It’s pretty superficial and kind of gross how reducing her or others to their ‘sin’ of getting work done is seen as some kind of progressive statement. I mean, congrats to KellyAnne Conway for covering up and keeping shit natural unlike Madonna, because that’s what matters?
This. She is so terrified of aging that she went full wax face. That doesn’t speak of a person who has confidence in themself.
THIS. This exactly +100.
I am loving these photos. Kudos to the photographer, stylist and the artist who did the photoshop.
I think this is the best Madonna has looked in a magazine spread is awhile.
I love the styling too.
I agree 100%. Gorgeous photos!
Respect yourself you’ve got to be you babe respect yourself and let me be me
We have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to Madonna. Papa, don’t preach. I have a tale to tell, sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well.
She’s Madonna, for f-ck’s sake. A lot changed with her. Let’s not forget her contributions to women’s liberation. I get her ego is as big as an aircraft carrier, but it does not erase her influence.
Your first line quoted is from the salt n pepa song of the same name.
Thank you. REAL pioneers.
Love your comment and co-sign.
I’m wondering what filter is used in these pics, how much plastic surgery has been done and how much are these photoshopped. Dang.
Her comments about Lola are interesting – regarding how could Lola possibly have the same drive Madonna had at the same age, she grew up in utterly different circumstances.
I’ve had that thought sometimes when reading about certain celebrities and their children, particularly when their children are trying to succeed in the same field. The difference between someone who came from nothing and succeeded with talent and drive vs. offspring that may have talent but there is always (usually rightfully) a strong nepotism factor to any success they attain.
The world is filled with talented, creative people who don’t have the interest in becoming famous. Is fame the same thing as success?
Good point…
I think ageism is real. Creativity is for all ages but pops star type relevance and popularity is uncharted territory for most older people.
She just exhausts me when she acts like she’s owed an new and young audience.
It is *for women*. The men, hell… look at Jagger, Roger Daltry, Paul McCartney, Elton John…all men in their late 60s/ 70s…they don’t have to worry about “aging out”. They will continue to sell out stadiums. Women have to worry about presenting as symbols of a sort (sex symbol, gay icon) if they want that continuity that the men enjoy.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been thinking about this for so long. Seeing men at 70 trying to strut their stuff on stage is so — awkward. Some bands have managed to evolve into their old age.
I used to like the Stones when I was younger, but I really can’t listen to them anymore, I get pissed off. “Under my Thumb”, anyone?
Ok, so I just watched her at Eurovision, and she was awful. She was off-key on her own old song and her new song wasn’t all that either. I am not a fan of most men you mentioned, so I don’t watch their performances and I don’t know how well they do. But I do know that Celine Dion isn’t much younger and still does entire concerts while sounding amazing. Both things can be true: ageism AND bad music. Heck, all 3 can be true: ageism, sexism, AND bad music.
There were plenty of bad ass older women in music who are still kicking ass instead of navel gazing about how persecuted they are, like Tina Turner, Deborah Harry, Cher, and mamy others. Also if Angela Davis is one of heroes maybe she should be aware that Angela Davis is still alive.
But the examples cited here of both sexes are popular with their original audiences, primarily. They’re not a new young audience. Jagger or Cher aren’t complaining that the kids aren’t into their new albums.
Did she just…compare herself to…Simone de Beauvoir and Angela Davis?! Girl, bye. Not now. Not ever.
Nobody is punishing her for turning 60. If she’s being punished it’s cause she’s turning 60 and clearly trying to pretend she’s still 25/35.
^This. We need more role models of women accepting their age and not going under the knife to conform to some fake standard of what we should look like.
Her taste and her feelings when it comes to certain things were expected to drastically change at 60 from what they were at 25 or 35, as in become more palatable. They didn’t, so that combined with her insecurities about her looks get read as trying to be 25.
I don’t think her ageism argument about the way the misogynistic narrative toward her has changed is totally invalid. There’s definitely ageism in the things people choose to harp on over and over whenever she comes up, no matter what she’s doing (and I don’t think abstaining from plastic surgery automatically makes an older person better than anyone else or a good role model. Going on about that in the way some people do when it comes to certain women they don’t like is still virtue-signaling about looks There’s so much more to that than flaws in your looks and whether or not you accept them).
But it seems like people have convenient age-based ‘reasons’ ready for sex-negative sexism at almost every stage of female life.
To paraphrase Joe Gillis, there’s nothing tragic about being 60, unless you’re trying to be 25.
And I think Madge is so envious of Lola’s youth and beauty she could scream.
A decade ago when she did a music video dancing in a leotard, my reaction was- for the love of god, someone make grandma put on pants (or a skirt, really, just SOMETHING so i’m not that close up with her vagina).
Is that ageist? I will try to work on it.
But oh my, the -nobody else is in my position- and the -Frida and Simone are my role models b/c no one else does what I do-. Dear god. So much narcissism.
As we say in the south, Bless her heart.
I feel for her children after reading that article…….
she can’t even recognize a positive trait in her child without immediately declaring he must have gotten it from her and making it all about her. total narcissist.
And she wants her children to worship at her altar…CONSTANTLY! Once a child gets past the age of 12…it’s kind of a WRAP…they become teens on their way to adulthood…and they don’t WANT to hang around their parents like that…That is NOT healthy……
madonna is not being punished for turning 60, if anything she’s being punished for turning 60 and still trying to look 25. if she’s so comfortable in her skin at 60, why all the plastic surgery and injectables? why the constant gloves? madonna is the victim of her OWN ageism.
DUPLICATE POST
The only one fighting agesim is Madonna herself – by repeated plastic surgeries and fillers. Also, to ‘envy’ your daughter for her talent is incredible narcissistic.
Why? My son is a very talented artist. I envy that and his follow through.
I NEVA felt Madonna was comfortable in her own skin….
And THAT…is her biggest issue….to me…..
Indeed. In her own way, she’s the ageist one. She’s going to great lengths to avoid natural ageing and maturity, and then criticising people who call her out on it as ageist.
It’s a good read because a publicist didn’t write her interview. Definitely not PC like many articles and interviews are today.
I think it’s honest to say Madonna has been treated just as shittily by women as Angelina Jolie, when you count conservative women as well as some liberal women who refuse to work on their internalized misogyny that comes out in the treatment of girls and women when it comes to modesty or ‘being classy’ . She does get support from those who don’t want to play a part in that anymore (even while still not a fan of some of her other shenanigans), but that’s not even close to being a majority. There’s a difference between the kind of support she seems to be talking about, and just being a fan of some of somebody’s work. Angelina also seems less problematic than her though.
I loved and supported her for about 15 years. *I* am one of those teenagers she inspired to be sexual, opinionated and in charge, with no shame. I wore the black rubber bracelets, neon off the shoulder shirts and crap-tons of Aquanet. I read and adored every interview and lyric. I sat in front of MTV for hours waiting for her videos. Most of the 80’s and early 90’s weren’t only shaped by her music, but her unapologetic stance in general. Heck, if you scroll through most 80’s teen films, you are almost guaranteed to see or hear SOMETHING that Madge influenced! And I firmly believe that many of her original fanbase, as rabid as they were, would have HAPPILY continued to support her. The problem has nothing to do with slut shaming (she had an entire army of females behind her for years) and is not that she is being punished for turning 60.The problem is a MASSIVE quality drop in her music/shows and a tedious demeanor. She consistently tries to shock or raise eyebrows with everything she does or says, and it’s old (no pun intended). She just keeps shoveling it out. It’s the same show, over and over and over for Madonna. I wish her nothing but the best, and I appreciate all she did for my generation, but I’m over it.
That may not be your motive (and it’s completely fine to get tired of an artist, especially when they’re not as good as they were before), but that’s definitely a huge part of it with many. Including with some around here, who have patterns of that kind of misogyny not just with Madonna.
Madonna needs to be grateful that she is 60, especially since her mother didn’t live long.
Ageism? No, Madge, the world has moved on. It’s into different things other than you. You’re in the music/entertainment industry, you never had an unlimited shelf life. Thank you for the good times, but it’s over.
If Madonna really wants to fight ageism then she needs to get real about the issues, physical and mental, that happen to women once they get hit by menopause. Acting as though it’s nothing, that sex isn’t painful, that new wrinkles don’t appear overnight, that hot flashes don’t keep you up all night, that you don’t feel like you’re losing your mind on a daily basis just perpetuates the idea that women aging is wrong and to be avoided at all costs.
Someone please wake me when Madonna decides to get real.
You’ll sleep forever then, lol.
Oh for the love of…..no Madonna, I’m not buying your self-pitying schtick about being punished for being 60. You’re being punished because you are hell-bent on botoxing, injecting and operating yourself into trying DESPERATELY to look 25. You ape every new music trend around trying to be relevant. You shove your face into every movement (#metoo, etc.) but instead of doing it with grace and intelligence you turn it into an obscenity-laden tirade about yourself.
Your self-obsession and narcissism have ruined more than one relationship. People have lauded your beauty but you’re an ugly person inside. People have lauded your determination to be a music/dance/film star but despite your huge success and barrier-breaking you’re just not particularly talented at any of those things. What you’re really good at is shock and awe, remember that stupid SEX book? People have lauded your philanthropic efforts but they seem to have failed, and eventually became more of a channel to fund Kabbalah.
You’re a 60 year old woman who is wallowing in self-pity at getting old when you should be embracing it and moving on to more appropriate ways to help people instead of lugging around a series of 20-something men to boost your vanity and so-called sex-appeal.
Go on feeling sorry for yourself but your complaints ring hollow, it’s just another way to get the attention you so desperately crave.
This exactly! Thanks, Jaded!
More perfect words were never said.
She’s just mad that no one takes her shocking tactics seriously anymore. You can easily tell she’s not uncomfortable with the process of getting old, its like she wants to stay young forever. I think she needs to seek psychological help cause only acceptance can bring peace at this point not cosmetic surgery.
She’s such a child. She’s not getting the attention she wants and thinks she needs anymore so she’s blaming it on her age. She’s had a phenomonal life and should be very grateful about what she has accomplished.
She’s like Lord Henry from Dorian Gray, lol.
I don’t understand why Cher is mentioned in the comments. She too struggled with aging. She too jacked with her face over and over again. Why are we using Cher as an example of being comfortable with the aging process when she clearly wasn’t?
Cher is in a good place now it seems and Madonna is getting there too.
I do think Madonna did too much but she also had her face done (a few times) in eras where what she was doing was fairly newish and there wasn’t a lot of guidance for who was qualified and how it would settle. I’m also guessing were seeing corrective work. Many of her era have gone through the same thing, even some men (ahem Mickey Rourke)
I’m actually not bothered by the rest of what she’s said. I don’t find it suffocating towards her children. I’ll leave it to her and Lola to decide if this was over the line. After all it’s interviews like this that have afforded Lola and crew the lifestyle and opportunities they have. And Madonna didn’t say anything intensely personal or give up any gossip.
She basically just said, look, my kid is way more awesome than I ever was but she’s going to make her own path. As both a mother and and daughter, I think that’s a good overall message. We never completely shed our mothers and yet we very much are our own person.
Because she said she has no role models. I think many were pointing out women who have in many ways done much what she has done. They did it before her, and they did it well. Cher comes to mind for me.
She’s absolutely right. She is being punished because of ageism of a special kind: it’s the anger/resentment other women have for her being 60 and trying to look 25 (the “age appropriate” line of ageism/sexism). Why is there so much contempt for that? If she doesn’t “accept” her age and wants to do something else, so what? It’s like the male comb-over, or a 60 year old man getting a red Corvette or a hot, 25 year old model girlfriend. However, there is not the curdling rage/disgust that is generated by a woman doing the same thing. People may be bemused by the men, but then just throw up their hands and move on. If Jude Law got hair plugs (and I believe it’s obvious), why is no one out for his blood for “fighting” his age? Women have a very short shelf life in the entertainment business. By thirty, actresses could be playing grandmother parts. In this culture, sexism has dictated that a woman grows less important with age. Can anyone deny that? I will never call out a woman for trying to look younger.
I think she’s punishing herself. She’s done a ton of plastic surgery and every other kind of cosmetic procedures. It didn’t work out to her liking so she’s throwing a public tantrum. Madonna is a huge narcissist. I think the Universe is giving her a good kick in the pants to grow up.
+1 JanetFerber. Some of it is resentment over the fact that she’s still around as another woman who sent the message that women don’t have to live up to what’s considered respectable, classy, & ladylike or shut up and accept the treatment that comes with it, and has lived that message herself. The need to repeatedly dump on and obsess over her plastic surgery just happens to be a convenient extension of that.
People want to hold her choices with her body and her relationships against her, with the implied ‘I’m better than this woman ever could be’ in there or tell her to shut up and be grateful because others go through worse. But at least she’s not spending her 60’s going all talibangelical on the rest of womankind, like some others do (and as women are often applauded for).
She needs to stop whining and grow old gracefully.
Lots of these comments begin with “She needs to.” Yo, she doesn’t need to do anything she doesn’t want. Just like you don’t need to enjoy her. It’s all right. Her thoughts while, yes, narcissistic are *her* thoughts and she owns them.
She needs to stop blaming everyone else for “ageism”. She needs to look at women like Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, etc. etc. They don’t feel the need to over-sexualize themselves, to push themselves forward by being deliberately shocking, going on the offensive or pretending they’re young. These women are strong, intelligent, and don’t give a f*ck about grey hair, wrinkles or not being relevant to twenty-somethings. These are the women who have the guts, self-confidence and true talent to age gracefully without having to resort to hair dye, plastic surgery and self-pity to feel valued.
Ironically, Madonna and Helen both have one positive thing in common (besides the fact that I haven’t heard any gaytkeeping from them): neither currently feels the need to abuse her position in the culture as an elder person by preaching about how today’s women are sl*gs, used lolipops, garbage, or other dehumanizing slurs. Madonna is definitely not the only woman of her generation who could learn something from Helen Mirren. Here’s what Helen had to say on the subject (trigger warning for desensitized good girls):
“When I was growing up it was thought to be unbelievably sluttish to even have a bra strap showing. Everything was about women conforming. I LOVE SHAMELESS WOMEN. SHAMELESS AND PROUD…Women were CONTROLLED BY BEING SHAMED. I love women who have claimed their own bodies: MADONNA…Joan Jett. Bonnie Raitt. I love Pussy Riot…THEY ALL RAISE THEIR MIDDLE FINGERS IN THE AIR TO THIS EPITHET OF ‘SLUT’. THEY WEAR WHAT THEY WANT TO WEAR, BEHAVE AS THEY WANT TO BEHAVE…”
https://www.celebitchy.com/489084/helen_mirren_praises_kim_kardashian_for_allowing_women_to_have_a_butt_nowadays/
What a nice palate cleanser, huh? 🙂
@otaku fairy – that is very funny. i agree with what helen mirren said. in fact i do what helen mirren said. i am one of those shameless women. that is why i find it so funny praising women who claim to own their bodies – and mentioning women who don’t. kardashian & madonna. they never claimed their own bodies. they deformed their bodies (kardashian) to conform into (exaggerate even) patriarchal ideas of what an ideal female body should be. the other women helen mentioned – yes, and she could have mentioned more . . . another funny thing, i don’t care if kim & madonna get all the surgeries they want (their body/ face, their choice) but they should own it. not lie about it, not act offended when commented on it. as helen incorrectly included them – they should claim it. only until then can they rightly be described as claiming their own bodies. its the hypocrisy that offends, especially if the branding is being badass, not caring, real, true, etc. etc.
@Crass: A person doesn’t have to be all natural to own their bodies though. I mean with that logic, you might as well try to say that only the rights and bodily autonomy of women who abstain from altering their physical appearances matter. Her comment was about how some women have not allowed slut-shaming and victim-blaming to stop them from doing what they want with their bodies. It wasn’t about plastic surgery. Derailing conversations about women overcoming the way society attempts to control, manipulate, and abuse women into thinking they need to prove they aren’t ‘wh*res’, and how women (including some on sites like these) are active participants in that with, ‘but some women who promote sex-positivity have had work done, so they don’t own their bodies anyway’ is just that: Catty desensitized Good Girl derailment fit for a douchebro.
The Kardashians are plastic and problematic for sure, and are liars, but the rest of Helen Mirren’s point still stands. It’s hypocritical for certain ladies to attempt to shame Madonna for not being more like Helen Mirren (in terms of not getting work done) when they can’t even be like Helen Mirren in how they treat women whose choices with their bodies differ from there’s. The feminists and liberals who love to make the most noise about how women should be more like Helen Mirren, Adele, Zendaya, and Janelle Monae are actually the least like them where it counts the most.
@otaku, again – like i said, i agree with helen. no need to proselytize about the means with which society is controlling women. you are preaching to the choir here. and again – like i said i have no problems with surgery. its very clear – i said, their body/ face – their choice. nothing wrong with that. what i was pointing out is the hyprocrisy practiced by both the kardashians and madonna (i.e. kardashians profiting of their surgical enhancements) in particular, to be considered (by helen) to claim their own bodies. they can still be said to claim their own bodies even if its surgically enhanced (again – no problem with that) if they proudly admit it. truly own it. BUT THEY DON’T. lastly, again – this has never been about helen’s point because what she said is true.
“they can still be said to claim their own bodies even if its surgically enhanced (again – no problem with that) if they proudly admit it. truly own it.” Nope. While people shouldn’t just lie about the procedures they’ve had done (as the Kardashians are known for doing. Madonna, I’m not sure about) or tell us it’s Japanese potatoes, menstrual side effects, etc. people also aren’t obligated to share any information about their bodies that they don’t want to. Withholding info that others are not owed /= not owning or being in control of your body. Feeling entitled to information and telling women that they shouldn’t be offended by what others say isn’t about wanting women to own their bodies. It’s about some women’s inability to feel ok about themselves without mocking women who get work done. How else would they be able to brag about how Not Vain, Unpreoccupied with Physical Appearance, and Feminist they are for not making the same choices as those women, after all? There’s a bit of overlap between women who play that game and women who participate in or try to downplay slut-shaming (as seen here). Helen Mirren has already condemned the game people here tried to use her name to play. And this was about Helen Mirren’s point because initially plastic surgery was what was used as a tool to derail that point, as it often is.
@otaku – No, just no. Again – read my comment. I agreed with everything helen said except the inclusion of the kardashians (kim) and madonna IN PARTICULAR as examples of women who claim their own bodies and who give a middle finger in the air to slut-shaming, etc. I am talking about two particular people and you are equating it to women in general. Women in general, even celebrities, do not owe anyone any explanations for what do they do with their own bodies. The kardashians and madonna however, capitalize on their bodies. In fact, the very title of your palate cleanser leaves a bad taste in the mouth – ” . . . kim kardashian allowing women to have a butt”. C’mon! Really?! But then again, helen mirren is a white woman. Should WOC now send a letter of thanks to kim for making their natural shapes acceptable? The kardashians deform their bodies into a caricature, exaggeration of the very shape and features WOCs are pilloried, jeered for. Now, it is this distortion that is lauded? It is now the distortion that is ideal and “natural”? It is now the distortion that women copy. Of course, the kardashians will not claim nor own up as they shill products based on these distortions. The full lips made Kylie a self-made billionaire after all. Right now, I’m waiting for a white woman to make my wide, flat nose fashionably beautiful and acceptable. Its so unfortunate that the kardashians are not allowing that for the present. I’ll eagerly await for helen’s next interview.
Madonna is lucky that she started during the 80s because definitely some (again SOME) of the images, styles, moves she did back then would not fly now. But she has become worse as she got older. Remember her outfit during her tribute-to-aretha-franklin-that-was-all-about-madonna? But I feel more sympathy for madonna though, as she got older she became the anti-thesis of the woman she built her image around when she was younger – she definitely cares a lot about how & what people think and she conformed to what rich, white women do when they reach their 50s (even younger nowadays) – turn to surgery. Her very, very great fear is sympathetic. She’s so, so afraid of losing her looks. She could have strutted around stage in barely there costumes, naked even, as she has a great body. The face though – she caved in under the pressure of society as most female celebrities before her. The face belies her rebel image. Her face shouts out that she is very much a conformist.
” . . . Helen Mirren’s point because initially plastic surgery was what was used as a tool to derail that point, as it often is”. Helen Mirren mentioned Joan Jett, Bonnie Raitt, Pussy Riot, women not exactly mentioned in surgery discussions. Again, I am talking about two particular people but you are equating it to women in general. My point is about kim and madonna’s surgeries and behavior, and how they derail women’s inability to feel ok about themselves without mocking women’s race and culture.
I never agreed with her point about Kim K being one of the first women being proud of or making it acceptable for women to have butts for the reasons you brought up, which is why I deliberately left that part out when quoting her. She and her sisters are culture vultures and Madonna has appropriated black culture as well as Indian culture, and probably other cultures too. Most of the women the OP and Helen Mirren mentioned here have done something very problematic (including Helen herself) that we know about, but this wasn’t about everything they’ve done wrong.
We all have eyes. Helen Mirren could have easily chosen to be nasty about how Madonna and other women have gotten work done, and how that act of not getting work done makes her better and more woke than them. She could have been dehumanizing AF about them too. She would have extra brownie points for going after flawed immodest women who are already low-hanging fruit, and made herself look more respectable as a woman for playing that game. That’s how women are encouraged to act. But instead of trying to elevate herself over women whose choices with their bodies differed from hers, she focused on women resisting efforts made to control female sexual modesty through fear and dehumanization and who encourage others to do the same. The fact that Madonna and some of the other women who rebel against that will be women who have gotten plastic surgery does not change the fact that they’re also women who own their bodies and who give a middle finger in the air to slut-shaming. In that area, she’s not a conformist.
Thank you @crass for your comment. I remember back when Madonna came out, a lot of people thought she was Latina because she basically co-opted Lisa Lisa look and sound (and I believe her producer, Jellybean Benitez). After she crossed over to a White, straight audience she was able to get away with co-opting things like house music and voguing because most straight White people didn’t know what they were.
Personally, I wouldn’t take anything that Helen Mirren says as some seal of approval. Her praise of Madonna and Kim Kardashian is proof that she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. Praising two WHITE women with surgically enhanced asses instead of praising women of African-descent for ALWAYS fighting the good fight to make society appreciate their beauty is sheer ignorance, in my opinion.
Poor Madge
she was BAAAAAAAD on the Eurovision Song Contest last week. yes, ageism sucks, but being either auto-tuned or hitting false notes aren’t helping us to take her seriously.
Yes ageism but also maybe Madge, it is no longer your time. Or maybe people are tired of her shock value shtick.
I watched Eurovision and monitored FB comments and a lot were making nan jokes. I was expecting her to be bashed politically but no, most comments were about her age.
Makes me wonder, Celine Dion is getting a lot of goodwill nowadays even for her outrageous fashion. I only hear positive things about Dolly Parton and Grace Jones.
Exactly! It’s not her age it’s the fact that her music sucks and has for a long time.
I don’t like her because she’s tacky and completely disregarded the BDS movement when they asked her to not perform at Eurovision. With all her clout and influence, she should be setting examples and upholding human rights, especially if she considers herself such a philanthropic person.
+10000
Glad someone mentioned BDS. Shame on her.
Agreed.
I used to love Madonna in the 80s and 90s. Now I find her insufferable. Her poor kids. It’s obvious David is the favorite. Isn’t that a trait of narcissistic mothers? They always have a favorite.and treat the others like crap.
She isn’t wrong about ageism. I’m pushing 60 and the world favors the young. Even saying that, my life and career feel good and it’s not earful yet. Maybe it won’t ever be. But, God, Madonna loves to whine. There are tons of single women with kids making it and succeeding with a lot less money. What. They don’t count?
No one does what she does? LOL. Okay, Madonna. Not to reignite the feud that never was, but this is why I’m a Cyndi Lauper fan.
You and me both, @Valerie. Cyndi has aged beautifully and her voice? Still strong as ever.
Incredible voice. I wish she’d tour again! I’ve seen her many times over the years and was lucky enough to meet her once. 🙂 She sounded great at Gloria Estefan’s Gershwin Prize ceremony.
Good Lord, those photos are so airbrushed!! She does not look like that…anymore. I agree, she has always looked better with darker hair. I’m not a fan. I don’t think she is real. In my opinion, she is someone that acts like they are nice and wants to help the world, but I think she probably really sucks behind closed door. Joan Crawford comes to mind.
I don’t think anyone gives a shit about her to try to “silence” her. People just want her to stfu.
For someone who’s had the world’s attention for 40 years, she sure complains a lot. Does she expect to be ceaselessly worshipped by until she dies?
Turning 60??? That was last year!
Oh Madge. No living role models? Last I checked, Cher was LIVING. And rocking it. And yes, she did it all (on a 70’s level) before Madonna.
I am an 80’s girl and adored Madonna up until the late 90’s. My issue with her has NEVER been that, over the years, she has refused to conform to society’s expectations of what a woman, and eventually a woman her age should be doing. That is actually something that I adored about her, and on many levels still do. My issue with her is that the quality of her material has dropped, all while becoming extremely self serving. Also, she is try hard and clearly cares, when she consistently puts forth a great effort to portray someone who doesn’t care.
Celine Dion is also living her best life.
I feel like Madonna has always been self-serving. That was excusable in the beginning when she had to get herself noticed. Once she blew up, she became utterly wrapped up in herself. To me, she’s an example of what *not* to do with your career. Stories of her being gracious or kind are virtually non-existent–and it’s not that as a woman, she needs to be this soft little lamb, but her cruelty and cutting remarks have been well-documented over the years, and people praise her for it. I’ll never understand it!
So angelina is 60 now and can be compared to Madge? Who created an entire movement in the 80s? Who did everything first? Writes music? Think not . Apples and oranges. Also Angelina is a LOLA not a MADONNA… madonna wrote her history Angelina had two famous parents
I like her honesty but I do think she’s a toxic person to be around. The way she talked about David made me uneasy, probably because it sounds so much like a narcissistic parent says about their “chosen one”… But that’s just speculation.
About her influence, she was great. Ray of light, bedtime stories, papa don’t preach… all great, but I think she needs to realize that there’s a lot of lucky in her status as an icon, as she was born in a time when things weren’t so fast and disposable. In other words, it was easier to be an icon before 2000. I often wonder how she would turn out if she was born from 1990 on.
She’d be an instagram influencer. lol
She’s fighting growing old and that’s her problem. Like most narcissists her character hasn’t grown to match her bodily aging.
There are elements of her that are ridiculous or unlikable, but she is an icon and I love a lot of her music. She paved the way for the Gaga’s, Gwen’s, and others. I’m happy that she continues to make music and do what she loves. I’m loving her new song Crave!
Just here to correct Madonna’s statement about Simone de Beauvoir being childless… she may not have given birth, but she did have an adopted daughter named Sylvie.
Madonna is amazing. She has more talent in her pinky than anyone commenting here, and has done for for gay rights, sexual liberation and basic human rights than most, too. Her music is not bad, it’s just that she’s 60 and brats like those commenting here refuse to play her in the radio. I can understand her frustration. She may’ve had a slight bit of work done but it’s likely much less than those commenting here. She works her butt off. literally. She’s a 60 year old with the body and stamina of someone half her age. Alas, many are jealous of that.
“[She] has done for for gay rights, sexual liberation and basic human rights than most, too…. She works her butt off. literally.” But but butt, all that is negated by the fact that she’s gotten work done without explaining it to the public! It’s one thing when Gloria Fucking Steinem or cute, innocent little Betty White gets work done, because they’re feminism’s Good Girls. But Madonna ‘over-sexualizes’ herself (oh yeah, and cusses), so nothing can ever come close to enough- her plastic surgery is held against her in that way. It also means that in the eyes of many, everything she’s ever done wrong also negates the things you mentioned.
It’s about so much more than jealousy. It’s about fear and it’s about slut punishment.
Um, excuse me? I have two masters degrees and have worked successfully in my career for 20+ years. She is NOT more talented than me! Her skills may be different, but it doesn’t equate to more talent. Furthermore, having “more” talent doesn’t make her exempt from my opinions. Are entertainers of the same caliber only permitted to voice their opinions on Madge?
I loved her for YEARS, and spent my hard earned $3.35 minimum wage $ on her albums. It killed me to see her stuck in the try hard, vapid, self serving cycle. It killed me even more when the quality of her material dropped.
My opinion? This is all for want of attention. Nothing more.
Grace Jones is 72 and still as fierce and unapologetic as ever. No one makes fun of her …
All fluff and no substance, at least she admits she has no talent. When you advertise yourself as
sexual bimbo you have no one else but yourself to blame when you are no longer young and desirable. Marlene Dietrich was sexy even in her 60’s because she was a great actress. Madonna always had minimal talent at best. Short little chicken legs, and an average dancer. She should count her lucky stars that she got so much by offering so little.
Sexual does not equal bimbo. Your use of the patriarchy’s slurs for women who don’t consent to female modesty plus your need to imply that ageism is the fault of those women speaks more to your self-hate and brainwashing. Liberate yourself and stop being an abuser.
Her recent but implants and all the extra work done only proves that the only person struggling w being 60 is Madonna herself.