Madonna says her two marriages were not good ideas


Madonna just released a remix album called “Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones.” And to go with it, she uploaded a Q&A video to her YouTube channel called “Finally Enough Talk: 50 Questions with Madonna.” Nice play on titles. I guess the Q&A is with herself because a digital voice asks her the questions and she answers. I guess props for not pretending it’s a real interview, unlike those celebs who get their friends to profile them. The interview was pretty varied and Madonna touched upon a variety of topics, like sex, astrology, her likes and favorites, her secret to success, and a decision she made that wasn’t a good idea. Apparently, Madonna thinks both of her marriages — to Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie — were bad ideas.

Asked about a life decision that “wasn’t the best idea,” Madonna assuredly said, “Getting married. Both times!”

The superstar was previously married to Sean Penn from 1985 to 1989 and Guy Ritchie from 2000 to 2008. One year after her second marriage ended, Madonna appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and said, “I think I’d rather get run over by a train [then get married again].”

While Madonna’s remained friends with Penn, 62, she said her marriage to Ritchie, 53, left her feeling imprisoned in a 2015 interview with The Sun. “There were times I felt incarcerated. I wasn’t really allowed to be myself,” the performer told the outlet at the time. “You’ve got to find someone who accepts who you are and is comfortable with that.”

Speaking to Details magazine in 2011, Ritchie called their marriage “a soap opera” but said, “It’s definitely not something I regret… The experience was ultimately very positive. I love the kids [Rocco Ritchie, 22, and David Banda, 16] and that came out of it, and I could see no other route to take.”

[From People]

Most people would probably say that marrying Sean Penn is a bad idea, full stop. That relationship was literally before my time — they divorced the year I was born — but wasn’t he completely awful to her? Like with a capital “A” like some other words? There were some allegations floating around in 2015, but then in 2017 Madonna said it never happened. And they’re still friends. But then Madonna said her eight-year marriage to Guy Ritchie kind of stifled her and she couldn’t really be herself. Some people just don’t like the institution of marriage. Madonna hasn’t been married since, so that might be it. And you can regret getting married without regretting all the experiences or the relationship or the children.

Photos credit: Avalon.red

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53 Responses to “Madonna says her two marriages were not good ideas”

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  1. Shay says:

    “I think I’d rather get run over by a train [then get married again].”
    I wonder if she meant, she’d rather get run over by a train [than get married again]? Makes more sense, but who really knows these days…

  2. ThatsNotOkay says:

    Hm. I know Madonna somewhat recently said Penn tying her up and torturing her never happened, but…I think it did. Covering for abusers is not unusual and is hard to judge. But calling them out takes true courage.

    • DouchesofCambridge says:

      Totally think the abuse and torture happened too. There’d be massive repercussions for Penn and there still friends so she wants to protect him I guess. That marriage to guy ritchie – it felt like she was in a cage and wasnt herself. How can you cage up someone like madonna and why would you want to get Madonna to be a like regular “norm” mom with kids?? I love over-the-top Madonna, That’s the madonna I want, married or not. I hope she’s happy now.

    • FHMom says:

      She has also said that Sean Penn was the love of her life. I wonder if that is still true. Penn is/was a monster and Ritchie took a lot of her money. Why would she not be anti-marriage?

  3. Andrea says:

    Madonna seemed happy with Guy Ritchie until she wasn’t and I believe grew bored, which is happening alot to my friends atm. I am 41.

    One of my exes is getting a divorce because he found on the family iPad ( I told him that was so the Gavin/Gwen breakup) that she was trying to sleep with a 28 year old. She is 45. Since he is her 2nd husband and she’s had back to back husbands, she feels she has missed out, so is now partying a lot despite having 4 kids ( 1 is in college). I have seen this happen with both genders a lot recently, the FOMO.

    Overall, Madonna needs someone to let her be her and idolize her I believe.

    • Kitten says:

      RE: partying– I’m 43 and I see a lot of that with my age group, too. I think if the kids are all grown and you’re single, it’s fine to let loose a little bit. I didn’t have to raise kids the first half of my life but if I had, I might be inclined to do the same. The cheating with a younger dude stuff just because you’re bored in your marriage is obviously terrible, though. Divorce is probably the right course of action TBH.

      • HeatherC says:

        I just turned 43. My one and only child is 23 and though he is on the spectrum he is in a good place and high functioning in the community (college grad, job, etc).

        So I spent my twenties raising a kid, navigating different systems, and divorcing.

        Now that he doesn’t need me day to day, and I have a degree of disposable income, I’m wilding in my 40s!

        I stay away from the guys in their twenties. When my husband and I were married he was in his twenties. I already raised a child, I am not doing it again!

      • Andrea says:

        @ kitten and Heatherc I did all my partying in my 20’s and now wanna find a man to settle down with, have a house with a garden, have dinner parties, and just chill. I am looking for a man who wants the same. I don’t drink anymore, quite frankly just don’t want to anymore and thus clubbing, barhopping just sounds exhausting to me. I never married, never had kids, so I did all of that in my 20’s every weekend. That just seems a part of my life that I exhausted and do not want to relive. I figure I need to find a 50 something whose partying days are long behind him.

      • Aurora says:

        Of course it happened! There was a 911 call and the responders found Madonna tied to a chair. I’m sure the record is purged by now, but back then she even described for the cops how she managed to dial. She also used to say that Penn wanted her ‘barefoot and naked in the kitchen’, same thing she’s now acusing Richie of. Imo she’s atracted by macho men, but have expected them to magically become woke husbands who’re ok with her twirling tongues and bare her female bodyparts for anyone’s benefit. I think she was infatuated with Penn, and in love with Richie. Divorcing him and loosing Rocco was what triggered the enhancements/ boy toy craze. Never again a chart hit. Look at that first pic, how beautiful and cool in her 80s gamine look. Now she looks like a blow up doll for the octagenarian.

    • Tatum says:

      I remember hearing that her riding accident in 2005 was a turning point in her marriage. She got thrown from a horse while taking riding lessons on her 47th birthday and cracked her ribs + broke her collarbone. Probably didn’t help that the horse was a gift from Guy.

      I remember reading that she’d been trying to embrace the English-countryside lifestyle but finally accepted it just wasn’t for her.

      • Andrea says:

        @tatum I don’t remember hearing about that accident, but I could totally see that be a turning point for her.

      • Tursitops says:

        The rumour is that there is a very different reason why that incident was a turning point in the marriage.

      • Justwastingtime says:

        I hear that he wasn’t the slightest bit sympathetic when she had her accident. I was in an accident where I broke several vertabrae and ribs. The broken ribs hurt like no one’s business. My husband was very kind to me, I can’t imagine how I would feel if he wasn’t.

  4. MissMarirose says:

    Her marriage to Sean Penn was very volatile. And yes, there was a story that he was physically abusive to her, and that there was allegedly a pretty bad incident where the cops got called. I think that’s the one she now says never happened. I think they were a lot alike and that was difficult for them to handle.
    I can imagine that she has a harder time reconciling the Richie years because she moved to England and basically turned into someone who was trying to be semi-posh and that’s not her.

    • MoonTheLoon says:

      Funny thing is that Guy Ritchie is the furthest from any sort of posh. So I’m not sure why she felt she needed to go posh at all. Just because someone’s English/British doesn’t mean they’re somehow “high class.” That seems to have been more her own affectation than anything Guy might have imposed. Which pains me to say, because Guy’s no rose.

      • iseepinkelefants says:

        As someone who was made to feel like dirt on the bottom of their shoe, I can understand where she’s coming from. My ex wasn’t posh, he went to Oxford but he’s what the Brits would call middle class. He took every opportunity to make me feel stupid, to make me feel bad for not being posh, for being American. Oddly enough he was in love with Rocco Ritchie. I bet Guy is the same way. He seems like it. And yes those men stifle you. Even someone as big as Madonna. They crush you. You’re never good enough, even though at the end of it, they’re the ones who aren’t good enough for you. They’re so obsessed with class. They’re not affectionate. They’re very firmly “English”. They don’t realize they’re the one who have no class.

        And in Guy’s case all of his money was stolen from her. Her tawdry American money is what has paid for his lifestyle since. That’s sickening. poor Madge.

  5. Lightpurple says:

    Her marriage to Penn started off as a nightmare when the wedding itself was pretty much ruined by paparazzi in helicopters flying over the reception. She did a bit about it on Saturday Night Live. They then made the film Shanghai Surprise together, which was a total disaster.

  6. braebre says:

    Can we get the name of her plastic surgeon??? She looks great for a women in her 60’s. I ain’t saying it’s right, but damn. And that ain’t all plastic surgery so what else is she up to?

    • Coco says:

      Hahahaha are you serious? it’s called photoshop and she doesn’t look good ether. You want to know what she really looks like look at pictures of her out and about . Her instagram pictures and paparazzi pictures are night and day.

      It’s sad to have all that work done to still need to photoshop your self into oblivion on social media , much like the Kardashian.

    • Jaded says:

      Dr. Photoshop. Assisted by Drs. Facelift, Botox and Injectables.

    • Kitten says:

      I too would like to know what she did so I can avoid it.

    • SandyK says:

      Her plastic surgery looks so f’ing scary and desperate.

    • iseepinkelefants says:

      No one agrees with this but she does look pretty good. She’s stretched tight but not a wrinkle in sight. Her cheekbones detract a bit but if they weren’t there she’d look like Madonna 20 years ago.

      The butt is another issue. That thing looks odd.

  7. whatWHAT? says:

    it makes me sad to see what she’s done to her face.

    and booty.

    • Kitten says:

      Every time I see a pic of her, I wonder how beautiful she would be if she had just aged naturally–or at least without this amount of obvious work. She had great bone structure, beautiful skin..I bet she’d look amazing.

      • damejudi says:

        I thought she was at her peak beauty when she was with Guy Ritchie. And I loved the ladylike fashions she wore (lady of the manor, lol?) around that time.

      • Lolo86lf says:

        @damejudi: I used to read quotes from British Tabloids stating that Madonna developed a English personality including an accent which it was so strange to watch and hear.

    • Truthiness says:

      I think what she’s done to her face and booty is worse than her movie Shanghai Surprise and that was a disaster.

    • Ladiabla says:

      I think she would’ve looked amazing as well, if she’d just left herself alone. She was always striking, and I don’t know why she did that to her butt; it’s not like she had nothing going on back there. @damejudi…..I always thought she was at peak beauty – and style – when she was with Guy too. Very lady of the manor. if she’d only kept going in that direction, instead of what we see now, she would’ve maintained her icon status. Now she just seems so grasping, when she used to be the antithesis of desperation.

    • Margo says:

      Agree. I wish she would stop with all the injections and implants.

  8. Lucía says:

    Completely unrelated but I love that dress+belt combo she’s wearing in the picture with the arm sling.

  9. jferber says:

    Sean was an abusive monster and Guy took her to the cleaners for 97 million dollars (though he always said he’d never take money from her). She’s right, but regrets only lead to depression. Live your best life now, girl. I know you are!

  10. Lolo86lf says:

    The second marriage to Guy Ritchie costed her a lot of money. The divorce settlement included a payment to Ritchie for $92 million. After 8 years of marriage and having one child together he gets so much money from her! He didn’t give up his career to work for her or anything so why so much? Who can blame her for not marrying again.

    • lucy2 says:

      Wow, I didn’t know/remember that! They were both pretty well established by then, why didn’t they have a solid prenup?

    • Andrea says:

      Oof that is a lot of dough. I probably would be bitter and not want to marry again either.

  11. February Pisces says:

    I think Sean and Guy are alpha males who like to be in charge. I think this is why Madonna was initially attracted to both of them because they probably didn’t kiss her ass like most people do and she probably liked having strong man to lean on. But eventually these alpha male types will resent a strong women especially someone who is as successful as Madonna. I know Madonna has spoken in the past about refusing to be the type of wife who just stays home and cooks for her husband and how that has been a problem in her relationships.

  12. Tursitops says:

    There were rumours when her arm was broken while married to Ritchie that it didn’t happen falling off a horse which was the cover story.

    • Andrea says:

      OMG…if true that would mean both her ex husbands were abusive.

    • MoonTheLoon says:

      Knowing what we know about Guy, this wouldn’t surprise me.

    • Jaded says:

      Guy Ritchie may be a verbally abusive asshole but Madonna’s just as bad. The public mud-slinging was ridiculous, but he is not physically abusive. They both fight dirty but he never raised a hand to her, and to insinuate he was responsible for breaking her arm is just wrong.

  13. Wilma says:

    I don’t really follow the news/gossip on the people involved, but since Brad Pitt blew up on that airplane I did notice the difference between Pitt and Ritchie with regards to their adopted kids.

  14. Julia K says:

    I wonder if both her ex husbands would say that being married to Madonna was no walk in the park. They both went on to marry again so obviously not against marriage, just not marriage to her.

    • Jaded says:

      You took the words right out of my mouth. I’m sure she contributed to the eventual demise of both those marriages, but narcissists will never admit they are part of the problem. Self-pity and always blaming others is a classic narc trait.

      • Julissa says:

        Neither party is a saint or a pleasant person to be married to, but let’s try to remember that only one party physically and sexually assaulted the other. Let’s not Deppford wife or Pitt Pick Me Girl this situation. Read the room.

      • Julia K says:

        @julissa: having read the room, I can say with certainty that it is unknown to me who abused who and when. It is not a matter of public record, and I do not know either one of them personally to be able to comment, as you have, about their respective behaviors. Have never heard of a Deppford wife, but will assume you are referring to Depp vs Heard, which does not apply here as Madonna vs anyone has not progressed to trial. Pick me girl is just word salad here and not appropriate to this conversation. Please read the room . This post is about Madonna commenting on marriage.

      • Julissa says:

        Nah it’s appropriate. This is just another example of people not being able to handle the slightest criticism of an abusive man without trying to center their dislike of the woman he abused, and without implying she had to have done something equally bad to him in the relationship. Just like enablers of Depp, Pitt, and Kanye too. The bar is in hell for men.
        So many people over the past few years could have said no trial happened or he wasn’t found guilty when working with abusers too.

  15. MsGnomer says:

    Part of me thinks she is more being reflective about her own character than commenting on either person she was married to… marriage brings up unhealed psychological patterns we have developed, and she married a couple of guys who mirrored her stuff for her. Never easy for anyone, let alone her Madgesty. I always send her good wishes and love no matter what because she was around when I was growing up, and was hugely influential to me and our generation. That said, the Weird Al movie trailer anyone? hooking up with him? That’s hilarious. Did that happen? LOL!!