These are photos of Madonna from the Chime for Change concert a few weeks ago in London. I just wanted to re-use these photos because they are still crazy and noteworthy. Madonna was in the news last week because she was promoting her MDMA tour documentary, Madonna: The MDMA Tour. It features not only her performances but lots of backstage stuff, including footage of Lourdes and Rocco. Madge sat down with Good Morning America on Friday to discuss her life, her children, the documentary and she also defended her use of prop guns in the show. Also: her face doesn’t look as crazy in motion.
Some highlights from the interview:
On using prop guns during the tour: “That would be like asking people to not have guns in action movies. I mean the thing is, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. That whole first section of the show is like an action movie, and I was playing a super vixen who wanted revenge.”
On violent movies delaying release after Sandy Hook: “Well that’s not going to change the situation. This all comes from fear and ignorance, and people not really raising their children, or not paying attention to what’s going on.”
On Lourdes working for the tour: “She worked in the wardrobe department. She had the very, very unglamorous task of undressing and dressing the male dancers. We had a lot of male dancers. It had its unglamorous moments, they’re sweaty and disgusting and they’re rude. But she took her job very seriously.”
Rocco is a showboat: “He threw himself in front of me. He’s the showboat in the family,” Madonna said.
On parenting: “Pretty strict. My daughter just got an iPhone. She’s 16. Ever since my daughter got an iPhone, she stopped talking to me… Seeing my daughter at 16 — it’s kind of uncomfortable. She’s still my little girl and she’s also a woman.”
On Rocco: “He’s a foot taller. He’s getting facial hair. He’s looking at girls’ butts. It’s terrible.”
While I agree with Madonna that delaying a violent movie’s release isn’t “going to change the situation” of violence against children, I think her second statement is truly ignorant: “This all comes from fear and ignorance, and people not really raising their children, or not paying attention to what’s going on.” I think that’s an awful thing to say. Maybe in Madonna’s mind, she’s trying to make a pointed comment about the shooters, the perpetrators of these crimes, but it also sounds like she’s blaming the parents of the victims too. Like, if the parents of the Sandy Hook children had simply been BETTER PARENTS, their children wouldn’t have died. Which is bullsh-t, and offensive as hell. It’s Serena Williams-level victim blaming too – regardless of what kind of parents a child has, EVERY CHILD has the fundamental right to go to school and not be slaughtered in their classroom.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She should just stick to eating microphones (as in pic n.4) instead of making such stupid comments. So is Lola smoking because she is a bad parent? Is she a good parent because none of her kids have guns? I used to like Madonna in the past but now all she can do is trying to get reactions out of people, it doesn’t matter if good or bad. to me she just seems so shallow and up her own arse.
Hasn’t she adopted two other children? Why does this article only refer to the two that she birthed?
I don’t think she was referring the parents of victims as being neglectful, but the parents of perpetrators. And I kind of agree. The mother of the Sandy Hook shooter knew her son was mentally disturbed, yet still kept an arsenal in her home. That was negligent to the nth degree and children paid for her “hobby” with their lives.
I totally had the same interpretation as you. Not blaming the victims (because DUH) but laming the parents of these young shooters. Which I agree with.
@ Pinky
I agree with you. I didn’t interpret that she was blaming the victims parents.
I can’t believe it but, I agree with Madonna on this one.
I think her statement really oversimplifies the issue. Whenever someone commits a violent act there are usually multiple factors involved. You can’t always just blame the parents. In many cases the parents of violent criminals are good people who really had no idea that their child had the potential to be so violent. I think Madonna’s statement is kind of ignorant and simplistic. You can be a very good parent but if you have a kid who’s an adult and is severely mentally ill with the potential for violence (for example-the guy that killed multiple people during the showing of “Batman”) there’s not a whole lot you can do.
Her face is crazy looking. Too much of everything
She’s gotten the face she deserves.
Yes her face is quite horrible, sad.
But you know the old saying,
“Do what I say, not what I do”
Kids can see through the hypocracy and unfairness of all situations.
Her face is pretty horrifying. The obvious reason would be too much/bad plastic surgery. Something about the shape of it also makes me wonder if she’s taking steroids for some ailment. It brings with it a specific pattern of swelling/weight gain.
Odd.
it looks like one of those cheap hard plastic halloween masks, yikes
She makes me cringe now. Not just all the plastic surgery but the fact that she’s so desperately trying to be the hot young thing. There’s nothing wrong with being 54. But it’s not 24, and you just can’t keep dressing and behaving the same way. It’s….undignified? Gross? Pathetic? Something like that.
Really? I seriously doubt she was blaming the parents of the kids that were slaughtered. I think you’re reading too much into a celebrity’s statement.
I think she’s talking about the parents of the perpetrators. not the victims.
Agree, she’s talking about parents of perpetrators. It’s still harsh. No normal parent would want their children to become a murderer.
I agree. I don’t think she was blaming Sandy Hook victims at all. I think she was saying delaying a movie’s release is not going to change the situation.
While I know it’s wrong to blame a victim of a crime, Adam Lanza’s mother knew her son was emotionally disturbed and not only allowed him access to guns, but actively taught him how to use them.
I think that is what she meant by parents being aware.
Delaying the showing of a violent movie after a shooting isn’t going to stop a crazy person who wants to kill.
I agree. She wasn’t talking about the victims; she was talking about the perpetrators of these horrible acts.
I totally agree. It seemed to me her comment was towards the perpetrators as well. it did not come off as victim blaming at all.
yeah. It doesnt seem like blaming victims at all. She obviously refers to the parents of the shooters
I don’t know how anyone could get that she was blaming the victims out of that. I took it as people not raising their kids to respect guns, and the dangers associated with them, as well as not being an active enough role in their life to know when they’re going through major issues.
And I agree with that sentiment. Adam’s mother was an idiot. She was the kind of woman who stockpiled firearms and allowed her mentally disturbed son to have access to them.
We were taught from an early age to respect guns; never point them at a living thing unless we were hunting (we don’t really hunt anyway) and to assume every gun is loaded.
Agreed. I thought I misread what Madonna said when I read the whole victim blaming part of the article. As much as I dislike Madonna, she’s clearly not saying that.
I agree too! I don’t see where she’s blaming the victims parents! Some parents don’t know what their kids are doing and that’s where they can get into some serious trouble!
Yep, I agree with that too. Madonna wasn’t referring to the kids at all.
I don’t think she said that at all. I think her comments were clearly aimed at the people who commit the crimes, not the victims. That wouldn’t make any sense and it’s a pretty ridiculous and strange assumption to make.
Yeah, I didn’t get that at all from her comments either.
ITA. I don’t think she’s pulling a “Serena” on this matter.
Agree..
I can’t say that I get that conclusion from her comments
I also didn’t see how she is blaming the parents ‘if the parents of the Sandy Hook children had simply been BETTER PARENTS, their children wouldn’t have died.’ How utterly ridiculous and dramatic of the writer to get to that conclusion. Somethings the Celebitchy writers go way overboard with how they perceive what certain celebrities say. Very active imaginations,perhaps you should also try writing children’s books.
Lulu, agree
I agree completely. I think she was talking about people not knowing how to use guns properly (rule no. 1: NEVER aim at a person, even if it’s toy gun,) people not teaching their children love and compassion, parents not looking out for warning signs of dangerous behavior, or generally staying in touch with their kids, etc in case they are prone to violence. I don’t think any of what she said was aimed at the victims.
^Yep, that’s what I gathered. Not sure how this statement was construed any other way.
I totally agree. She was OBVIOUSLY referring to the shooter’s family, and not the victim’s. No idea how this writer could twist her words like that.
I think she was referring to the perpetrators of gun violence not being raised correctly, not the victims.
“Not paying attention to what’s going on” could mean a lot of things, don’t think she’d suggest a kindergartner should have to pack heat to go to school. Do you seriously think she would imply such a thing? Really?
Yeah, she obviously meant the parents of the guy who shot the children, not the victims’ parents!
Delaying the release of violent movies wouldn’t have prevented any shootings, but who would’ve wanted to see it on a screen in the days following anyway?
I though that delaying the release of violent movies after such an event was a gesture of respect and mourning and not a preventative measure.
Sort of…it’s also about money. Well mostly about money.
I am literally terrified of her face.
Yup. And her hair looks like twisty devil horns in the top pic.
Those gloves make me wonder (and a bit nervous) of what her hands look like.
I’ll sent the **note** from puffy face to her nannies…
She knows absolutely nothing about mentally ill people. At the end of the day, you can be the best parent in the world and it won’t matter. Someone with a severe mental illness can go off at any time. My parents were pretty darn good at parenting, but my brother is still a very sick person who has to be watched all the time. I get so sick of people spouting of ignorant comments blaming parents when they know nothing at all about the situation. Madonna is very judgmental for someone who preaches about tolerance, etc.
However, in this particular case, the mother was not a good parent by the sounds.
She was the kind of person who stockpiled weapons and kept them within easy access of her very disturbed son. That’s not smart parenting at all.
@ kiki-I agree with you completely. I’m really sorry about the situation with your brother.
Yeah, because everyone with a brain looks to Madonna for parenting and lifestyle advice.
Yes! thank you Amy!
pretty sure she was slamming the parents of the shooter.
that said, she’s not much of a “trail blazer” to think the only way to be a super vixen getting revenge is to wield a gun. so empowering. @@
and b¡tch please, “i’m so sad my little girl is growing up so fast so i’ll put her in front of a lot of c0ck” -LAME.
no problem with her daughter working but sheesh.
It’s pretty obvious to me that she’s talking about the parents of the perpetrators, not the victims. I.e., the people who commit crimes like Sandy Hook and Columbine were not properly attended to by their parents when they were children. We can see this in both of those cases. The shooters were neglected and then they lashed out.
Madonna is in NO way referring to the victims of gun violence! I agree that parents play a bigger role in how kids relate to what they are exposed to in the media. Americans are influenced way too much by outside influences. I grew up exposed to the same media influences, but what parents instill in you comes first. We were taught to take it all in, but know yourself and what you’re about.
Lola’s first job was dressing and undressing the male dancers? LOL.
Yet she says shes a strict parent.
So while Madonna is pretending to be the Mother of the Year she allows her daughter to dress and undress sweaty male dancers. Looks like there is a lot of nudity involved on innocent little Lola first job!
Pretty clear you guys have never worked backstage if you think the state of dress or undress is an issue for anyone, especially when the dancers have exactly 1min to change their costumes between songs.
Also, you’ve never heard of protective dance underwear? Where do you thing g-strings came from?
I saw her comment on guns. It was a stupid thing to say. Does anyone really believe Lee Harvey Oswald could have killed JFK with a knife?
‘very unglamorous task of undressing and dressing the male dancers’ yeah, I’m sure a 16 years old girl would find that gross and not glamour. Sure. Make your daughter dress and undress dancers, that is a good mom LOL.
Also she doesn’t talk about her other two children at all.. weird.
That reporter also didn’t bother asking about them…
I really like her in this interview. It’s rare that I actually feel she’s being herself. I hate how she starts out with the fake English accent, but then she retracts quickly and just starts talking normally. Other than the accent thing, I do like her in this interview.
I hate to defend Madonna, but I don’t think she was blaming the parents of the victims at all. I think she was blaming the victims of the perpetrators. And while that is not always accurate, in the case of Sandy Hook it was — that mother had no business encouraging her mentally ill son to use and have access to guns.
I totally agree with her statement.
The PERPETRATORS parents are at fault, she’s known as a strict parent – Respect.
WORD.
I agree with some of the other posters, Madonna was not blaming the parents of the victims. BTW Madonna’s tour was called ‘MDNA’ not ‘MDMA.’
Blaming the parents of the perpetrators is not necessarily better. Don’t you think they feel guilty enough to think their children have done such terrible things?
Fact is children grow up and make their own decisions.
How were the Columbine shooters neglected by their parents btw? I hate that argument- it’s like blaming the families when people commit suicide. You have to reach a pretty dark place to kill yourself or others and I’m pretty certain no parents can live their life on tenterhooks thinking their child might be a killer.
I think it’s an incredibly facile approach to a very complex issue to lay all the blame on the shoulders of the perpetrator’s parents. The various factors that contribute to kids committing these types of crimes are usually very intricate and layered.
I’m not saying the parents of the perpetrator bear NO responsibility–far from it–I’m simply saying that the parents are in no way 100% at fault.
exactly original kitten! you hit the nail on the hammer.
Madonna just needs to just her fake wrinkly trap!!!
How they “feel” about anything is not my concern. Whether or not they suffer from guilt feelings isn’t anywhere near the top of my list.
There are cases of kids who have loving involved parents who “go bad” anyway, and for those people, I cannot imagine the suffering, but their suffering is not what concerns me. We don’t have outliers anymore. This is a pattern, now, and patterns have causes. It’s not about blame. It’s about solving the problem. Negligent, selfish, entitled parenting is one of the big causes of this type of violence. Adolescents who cannot cope with frustration and have never been forced to learn how to control emotional outbursts by absent or permissive parenting is one big part of this. Parents who are never there or never interested enough to notice a kid’s spiral into emotional instability is a big part of this. Everyone wants to blame the guns, but that’s a cop out. There are serious social issues at play here, and it’s a cop out to blame the tool alone. Trigger locks or melting down every firearm in America will not stop the problem or even slow it down. There are other kinds of weapons. An honest dialogue about parental disconnect from their children in this country, however, might do some actual good.
” . . . people not really raising their children, or not paying attention to what’s going on.” There are many instances of where children are raised properly (we had two A students pull a robbery and ended up killing the woman – they were raised properly) and go on to commit violent crimes. There are also many instances where children are neglected and they become productive members of society. You need to be careful when making blanket statements like this.
Absolutely! Thank you. I think people say that kind of stuff to convince themselves “it will never happen to me.”
Law enforcement officials around the world should find out what she’s using for cheek implant/face fillers and use that material in their bullet-proof vests – no armour piercing ammo could penetrate that!
A parent should be aware in a child, young adult life.. Sometimes parents play a role as to what goes on with a child…
She knew her son was mentally unbalanced and raised him around guns…
Madonna was referring to the perp’s mother not the children who lost their innocent lives
Just setting aside the gun violence comments that you’ve all covered, I agree with her not allowing her daughter a phone till she was 16. I gave my daughter her first phone on her 14th birthday.
I waited till then knowing that owning a smartphone provides her with unlimited internet access which quite frankly, scares the bejesus out of me. I do have parental control apps installed but I just have to trust her to use them and hope they work.
Lol I’m 21 and I got my first smartphone just a few weeks ago (99 cent upgrade whaaaattt!). It’s life changing. When I want some ice cream I have a map telling me how to get there, a financial app telling me if I can afford it, and a calories tracker app telling me whether I’m allowed to have any or not. The last one is a jerk. Lol why are you so scared of Internet access? I hate the front and back cameras after that whole NSA thing. When I change I cover my phone up. Delicate conversations are not done though text because I have a fear the person I’m talking about will get the text where I’m talking about them. I don’t want that to happen good or bad. I’m trying not to post everything on there either I don’t want apple to know everything…..okay I can understand more why the Internet access would scare you.
Wow Bijlee, you are very politically aware for a younger person. Congrats. I’ve not said anything sensitive even over a landline since I was in my 20’s either… and that was over 30 years ago. This was since one of my friends who worked for the phone company told me to never say anything on the phone that you didn’t want to be overheard. This NSA thing isn’t new, they’ve been spying for ages, it used to be called echelon. That isn’t the only concern though, kids post silly things online not thinking of the consequences which can hurt others or themselves. Once its there, its there forever.
@tessy Haha, the NSA thing was HUGE news. If that’s how people are qualifying the political awareness of my generation, then dang is my gen sad. I’m not sure if it’s being politically aware so much paranoia I’ve had since I was a child. In the words of Tobias Funke “I don’t want to blame it all on 9/11, but it certainly didn’t help.”
I hate the trend of social networking and posting everything on there. I highly value my privacy. I’ve always felt uncomfortable with social networking. Even when I had FB or twitter I never revealed anything personal or posted pictures. I just don’t like it.
Word of advice to everyone here, check your privacy settings on your accounts. I always set mine to only friends can see anything or customize it, but every time Facebook institutes a new privacy policy the privacy settings reset. So always check your privacy settings. You have no idea how easy it is to find someone based on a few details. Age, city, gender, a school, your interests they help in narrowing down everything and google (yes bing is too) is A MASTERFUL SEARCH ENGINE. Stereotyping(while wrong) often proves useful in hunting down details and finding someone who thinks they are anonymous. Lol see tessy, it’s paranoia not so much political awareness.
Yes I am very paranoid.
There was a young girl, maybe 20 when diagnosed. She used to put her smartphone in her bra. It was always on. She developed breast cancer. The lump was right where she placed the phone on her skin. The doctor said it was related. Frightening. Younger kids aren’t supposed to be using cellphones, but most kids just text anyway. I never hold my iPhone up to my ear anymore since I use it as my primary phone and use it much more. I use the earbuds with it or speaker.
This has been a fear of mine. I sleep with my phone relatively often. It starts on the other side of the bed, but in the mornings when I snooze that alarm it ends up under me. LOL! Now that I think about it I may just be silencing it with my body after a while. Anyways, I’ve started to be really diligent about where I place my technology. Even when I’m driving I can’t put the phone in my lap it freaks me out too much now.
The nice thing is I barely use phones. Pre-smartphone (ie a month ago) I could go a week without seeing my phone if I had too. I think it’s the same now too. I don’t really call or text people so much either. I don’t really need a phone to live. As long as I can call mom to check up on her or have someway to let my mother know I’m not dead I’m fine.
I don’t take her comments as a slight against parents of victims. What they possibly have done differently? She’s not THAT stupid.
Where is this rise in gun violence coming from? Why are children hanging themselves, raping and killing each other and planning massacres? And this sick sense of entitlement? What has changed in the last 35 years?
Technology and parenting, that’s what.
Children are products of their upbringing and social/familial interpersonal influences, at least until they are old and wise enough to conduct adult retrospectives and real-world comparisons.
Madonna ‘s 16 year old daughter had the job of dressing and undressing the male dancers and she took it “very seriously”. That is extremely inappropriate for a teenager. Bad parenting.
She’s been working in wardrobe in some form or another since she was 12. The dancers are gay. She’s in a huge wardrobe department under the stage with others getting the clothes ready, etc. It’s the department she wanted as someone attending performing arts school. She didn’t want to be on stage like her brother this time.
Reading comprehension 101; She is talking a out better parenting in the context of the loner.killers, not the innocent children.
her face reminds me of a kabuki mask
terrifyingly smooth
I don’t defend Madonna on much of anything, but I don’t think she is victim blaming at all. I thought it was pretty clear from her comments that she was speaking about the parents of the perpetrators.
She just looks so hard and mean. And she’s nuts if she can think of herself as a “vixen”.
Madge always tries to pass herself off some kind of politically savvy activist artiste but you know she only put the guns in her show to create controversy. It’s ALL about hustling attention – any way she can.
honestly, her ease with promoting violence REALLY bothers me. Guy Richie is just as much as seduced by it, and I simply don’t get it…especially now that they both have children.
Guns are used to kill people – and to be so blaze about it is kind of disgusting. Especially when she resides in the country that embraces it as a national amendment (only put in during a time when it was a legitimate means to protect one’s property when laws and enforcement didn’t exist to make it unnecessary as they do now). BANNING guns and going through a methodical process of prohibiting their usage and ownership is the only thing that will get rid of meaningless deaths caused by handguns. Look at the UK – for *years* the number of deaths caused by handguns hovered around the single digits…why? Because you couldn’t legally buy or obtain them. Sadly, things have changed since.
Anyway, my overall point is that although I know what she meant to say, her promoting violence to the degree that she does in her videos or movies is just gross and pathetic means of another way of getting attention.
Grow up Madonna: give your money to a worthy cause (divorced from self-promotion) and do something meaningful for humanity at this stage in your life…and then GO AWAY. We’re exhausted by you! And this is coming from a *devout* Madonna fan from the 80s/90s…but now she’s trying too hard in a way that is damaging. Curtains please. It has nothing to do with your gender. You’re just tainting your memory by continuing to yap the way you do…
She cannot work the sex angle much longer, to shock people she has to move to violence……
That is Her next “re-invention”
Not a fan, never was…….
Never was a responsible role model, was she….
She is never going to accept growing old gracefully.
Like Donatella Versace, this is going to get ugly.
Madonna What’s -her-last-name is too driven to ever relax and just enjoy life.
That’s not what I got from what she said. She was saying that kids who get ahold of guns or feel compelled to use guns to hurt people are the result of negligent parenting. I agree with her.
I didn’t get a blaming the parents of the victims vibe from that at all. She’s commenting on the phenomenon of kids using guns to kill people. When minors have ready access to firearms, and when minors have emotional problems deep enough to go to a school or a restaurant or a theatre or any other public place and commit a mass killing…and the parents always “had no idea” the kid was so disturbed. Yes. Diagnosing negligent parenting as a cause of this type of violence is justified, I think.
agree. She is a very smart woman, and her comments are agreeable.
When you start to look like Wayland Flowers’ “Madame,” it’s time to stop with the plastic surgery.
Guys come on, she is saying people do not pay attention to their kids, therefor kids get into things that they should not or behave in ways that they should not,and I see her point 100%.
Clearly she is talking about bad parenting or absentee parenting leading to kids doing very bad things. With today’s world, you need to be up their ass es
I think she’s talking about the shooter’s parents, which is also a pretty shit thing to say. Sometimes, kids are just going to do things no matter what. I mean, I don’t really blame her daddy for her silly ass…not past the sperm.
I’m no Madonna fan, but I get what she’s saying. Gun violence is OUT OF CONTROL on the streets of Chicago, and it’s precisely because we have a generation of children who were born into gang banger families. Of course, not the innocent victims being shot, but the gang bangers who are forcing kids from dysfunctional homes to PROVE themselves by inciting violence in our streets. Enough. And, time after time we see the parents of youth arrested for these crimes crying that their son is good boy who would never do something like that. They turn their heads the other way and then take grief money from the very gang they allowed their son to become a part of. It’s a sick process and the parents are a HUGE part of the problem. It’s not a time to be politically correct and make socio-economic excuses for why some kids join gangs. It’s a time to face that fact that in many parts of our country we have families with generations of gangbangers passing on the lifestyle because they’ve been successful at making a living off of it. The cops are useless, some are in on the game, many others don’t care to stop it because they have NO respect for the people involved. I even overheard one Chicago cop tell his buds that the recent rise in crime is “culling the herd”. If that’s not sick I don’t know what is. One thing is clear. Parents have got to take their head out of the sand and give their children a chance to know that life is not about being more violent than the gang 2 blocks down the street. I moved out of the city and I won’t be going back. Things are miserable here and I don’t see it getting better any time soon.