Modern Divas Boxed Set

by Jessica Jayne

  On her wedding day, Madonna looked regal in white taffeta and black bowler hat. It was a very private affair with tight security, but news of the venue was leaked to the press. Photographers were determined to take photos of the high-profile event and hovered over the venue in helicopters. James Foley, who was Sean’s best man, recalled, “It was really bonkers. Suddenly the sky was full of helicopters and you couldn’t hear a word the preacher was saying. It’s common now to have paparazzi shooting pictures from the air, but then helicopters were only used like that by police tracking down criminals. Madonna and I thought it was amusing, but Sean was not amused at all.”

  Bill Meyers also remembered how Madonna, going ballistic over the interruption, gave the photographers the finger while Sean ran to get his shotgun. He added, “The funniest thing about it was they were serious. It wasn’t staged.”

  The Madonna-Sean Penn nuptials wasn’t without a hitch; photographers in helicopters tried to take a shot of the private affair

  After their honeymoon, the couple settled in Beverly Hills and decided about starring in a movie together.

  Although the couple was madly in love with each other (Madonna’s True Blue album was inspired by Sean), soon that love would dwindle away. Their relationship was further made difficult by press attention. While Madonna got used to this attention, it was torture for Sean. He was always involved with paparazzi, and his marriage with Madonna was filled of incidents of assault and criminal charges. One time, while filming Shanghai Surprise, Sean was arrested after hanging a photographer by his ankles from the couple’s ninth-floor balcony. He also spent 33 days in jail after assaulting songwriter David Wolinski who had kissed Madonna on the cheek.

  Within a year after their marriage, the relationship was getting out of control. Tabloid newspapers would report about heated arguments between the couple. She filed for divorce in late 1987 and had an affair with John F. Kennedy Jr., son of President John F Kennedy, for three months while estranged from Sean. The two reconciled in 1988, but soon the marriage was in trouble again. Sean became furious when Madonna sought comfort with lesbian comedienne Sandra Bernhard.

  Madonna again filed for divorce, and this time it was final. That experience was heart-breaking. She found herself at thirty years old a famous woman with so much ahead of her in her career yet her emotional life was hanging by a thread.

  Lola

  Madonna turned her attention to creating albums. In 1994, Madonna met Carlos Leon, an actor and personal trainer in New York City and later on developed a 3-year romantic relationship with him. Their passionate relationship resulted in their daughter Lola, named Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, whom Madonna gave birth to on October 14, 1996. The relationship did not last; the couple split up 7 months after the birth of their daughter.

  Even after they separated, Madonna and Leon remained friends and co-parented their daughter. Since becoming a mother, a lot of changes took place in Madonna’s life. She said, “[Lola] doesn’t know about me being famous, and it’s completely unconditional love, which I’ve never known because I grew up without a mother. When you have children you have to step outside of yourself… You look at it from a different perspective.”

  Madonna and her daughter, Lourdes

  The Material Girl mom toned it down, and her party days were a distant memory. Motherhood became her and she was transformed in a positive way. Marius De Vries, coproducer of the single Skin, recalled, “She was more settled. Calmer. Lola was around all the time. One of the leisure rooms in the studio was converted into a kind of crèche. She was very cute. She was just beginning to make a nuisance of herself and walk.”

  Madonna had a brief relationship with Andy Bird, a guy who introduced her to yoga and Eastern mysticism. The relationship was doomed, but Madonna had gone through an emotional crisis after discovering that she was pregnant. Although she wanted another baby, she also wanted to have that baby in a stable relationship. And while deciding what to do in her predicament, she suffered a miscarriage.

  Madonna had already gone through abortion in the past. While it was a difficult decision for her, her miscarriage with Bird’s baby was a relief. She put her attention to finding a suitable husband, someone who had his own career and wanted to have a family. But this proved to be elusive because Madonna was busy with her career and was not emotionally ready for another relationship.

  Certain experiences from her past life rendered her reluctant to commit. Madonna commented, “There were whole chunks of my life where I was so lonely… and wondered if it was ever going to be possible for me to have a relationship that was going to last. I did wonder if it was possible to find a man who could handle me, as well as a man I could handle…

  And when she wasn’t looking, she found the man who fit the description.

  Guy Ritchie

  Madonna met the new man in her life a few months after Ray of Light was released. She remembered, “You know when people say ‘he turned my head’? My head didn’t just turn – my head spun around on my body!”

  She met Guy Ritchie at a lunch party at Sting’s Lake House in Wiltshire. He was like her in some ways: both were driven, determined and adept at reinvention. Although 10 years younger than Madonna, the two hit it off immediately. She even called him her “soul mate.”

  Madonna called her second husband her “soul mate”

  But their romance didn’t begin right then and there because Guy was still seeing the model Tania Strecker. When Madonna visited London, they had to meet in secret. Naturally, Strecker was infuriated. Madonna pursued Guy with relentless determination but knew that as long as she lived in Los Angeles, he wouldn’t commit to their relationship. He didn’t want to leave London and was also a bit intimidated by Madonna’s success. It was Madonna who finally gave in and relocated to England.

  In 2000, Madonna discovered she was carrying his baby. By then she was working on one of her album. Guy had also finished his relationship with Strecker. Excited with the prospect of being a father, he gave up alcohol so that Madonna wouldn’t be tempted to drink.

  Madonna was uncharacteristically nervous about her pregnancy. She was diagnosed with placenta previa, a dangerous condition where the mother could hemorrhage and cut off the baby’s blood supply. A month before her due date, Madonna began bleeding and was rushed to the L.A. Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Guy arrived from a private screening of his film Snatch; when he arrived at the hospital, Madonna was hemorrhaging badly.

  Rocco

  Their son, Rocco, named after one of her uncles, was born on August 11. He stayed in intensive care for five more days before he was taken home by his parents.

  Madonna was 42 years old and was very happy. Her young son was a good baby. Guy was also bursting with pride, saying that “Fatherhood does change you… It’s like a huge wave of love, but much stronger.” Feeling complete with having a family of her own, Madonna’s happiness was compounded when the next day, Guy presented her with a diamond ring.

  The wedding took place on December 22, 2000 at Skibo Castle in Scotland. Initially, Madonna planned to have the wedding at Althorp House where Princess Diana grew up, but Earl Spencer refused due to security concerns. Madonna and Guy then decided on Skibo Castle.

  Madonna was a blooming bride on her wedding to Guy Ritchie

  Madonna didn’t want to turn her wedding to a circus after what happened to her first wedding. She and Guy went through so much trouble to keep the event a secret. The hotel staff was asked to sign four-page confidentiality agreements and the guests were required to turn off their mobile phones.

  Still, some paparazzi and TV crews tried to get a piece of the event. The wedding may have tight security, but news of the wedding filtered out. It was reported that Madonna wore a £30,000 ivory silk dress designed by Stella McCartney who also served as her maid of honor. She wore a necklace with a thirty-seven-carat diamond cross and a quarter-million-dollar 1910 diamond tiara on loan from Asprey & Garrard.

  Lola was reported to have tossed ros
e petals in her mother’s path and Rocco was dressed in a miniature kilt. Madonna was said to have wore Gaultier at dinner and Versace at dancing. Their wedding cake was 3 feet tall full of profiteroles.

  Tony Ciccone was there to give her away. Years of conflict ended that day, and any awkwardness between father and daughter was gone.

  While her relationship with her father improved, her relationship with her siblings still remained at a stalemate. With her focus on Guy, her children and Kabbalah, she was less in touch with her brothers and sisters. She claimed that after their mother’s death, they became “emotional cripples”. Perhaps they were intimidated by Madonna’s fame. There was one story where her sister Paula refused to work with video editor Dustin Robertson who came to work in her film production office wearing a Madonna T-shirt.

  The loss of their mother has affected the Ciccone children differently. Some dealt with it by concentrating on work while others turned to alcohol and cocaine. Her sister Melanie became a music business manager while Christopher established himself as an artist, restaurateur and interior designer. Martin has turned to alcohol while Mario, her half-brother, was a former cocaine addict. Madonna bailed them out a few times, but she grew tired by constantly having to save them.

  Madonna and Guy Ritchie after the christening of their son, Rocco

  When it comes to her own family, Madonna wanted her children to stay in one place and socialize with other children. Lola and Rocco had attended the prestigious Lycee in South Kensington. Lola would later on attend the Cheltenham Ladies College.

  As a mother, Madonna always made sure that she gets home in time to give supper to her children and put them to bed. She described herself as the disciplinarian while “Guy’s the spoiler… I’m doctor’s appointments, lessons, homework. I’m the boring one.” She also described her typical day, saying, “We eat dinner at nine of nine thirty; my husband does ju-jitsu and doesn’t finish until then, which is irritating. We eat dinner late, we go to bed late, I get up early – not a lot of sleep goes on here. I don’t see a lot of my girlfriends.”

  Madonna added that she stayed home and worked and rarely went out to party.

  Soon, rumors began to circulate about problems in her marriage with Guy. She acknowledged it was a struggle, saying, “When I first met Guy, I couldn’t believe I had met someone as strong-willed as I was. Guy has a very forceful personality with very specific likes and dislikes. He doesn’t back down one iota if it’s something we disagree on, but I respect that.”

  David and Mercy

  Her problem with her marriage was momentarily forgotten when in 2005, she performed at the Live 8 concert in London which aimed to raise awareness about famine and debt relief in Africa. In some ways, the event politicized Madonna as she began a “love affair” with Africa, when then led to her Kabbalah-inspired Raising Malawi campaign. On October 10, 2006, she and her husband filed adoption papers for a boy from an orphanage, David Banda Mwale. They named him David Banda Mwale Ciccone Ritchie.

  Madonna and Guy’s adoption of David faced negative reaction. The Malawian law requires that would-be parents must live in Malawi for 18 months before moving abroad. But David was a special case, and so the high court in Lilongwe granted the couple an interim adoption, and the 18-month trial was to be completed in Britain. The Human Rights Consultative Committee claimed that the adoption was unlawful because Madonna did not live in Malawi for 18 months. Despite protests, the adoption was finalized on May 28, 2008.

  Madonna and her children

  Ultimately, Madonna and Guy’s marriage crumbled. She filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, and was finalized in December 2008. Even before she filed for divorce from Guy, she’d been wanting to adopt again from Malawi. Malawi’s high court initially approved her adoption of Chifundo “Mercy” James but was later rejected because Madonna was not a resident of Malawi. She appealed, until on June 12, 2009, the Supreme Court of Malawi granted her the right to adopt Mercy James.

  Chapter 9 – The Legacy Of The Queen Of Reinvention

  Madonna has come a long way, and success was sweeter for having “been there, done that.” What she has achieved in her lifetime was unprecedented and led to many awards and accolades.

  What differentiates Madonna from similar pop stars before and after her is the fact that she remained successful and avoided setbacks. She continued to reinvent herself, and that was key to her booming professional life.

  Madonna was one of the greatest figures in music and also one of the most influential women in history. The 1998 Ladies’ Home Journal included her in 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century. In 2008, the Forbes magazine named her as the world’s wealthiest female musician with her earnings of more than $72 million. Most of this income came from her H&M clothing line and her Confessions Tour, which became the highest-grossing tour for a female artist.

  In 2010, Time magazine named Madonna as one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century,” with the list including just two singers, Madonna and Aretha Franklin. She then topped the VH1’s “100 Greatest Women in Music” and “50 Greatest Women of the Video Era.”

  For her “influence and significance on rock and roll music,” Madonna was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.” She was then ranked seventh on VH1 and People magazine’s list of the “200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All Time.”

  Aside from these acknowledgements, Madonna earned commercial accomplishments, in particular a Guinness World Records for being world’s top-selling female recording artist and most successful female recording artist of all time. To date, she has sold more than 300 million records worldwide.

  The RIAA claimed that Madonna is the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States behind Barbra Streisand. With eight concert tours under her belt, her Sweet & Sticky Tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time by a solo artist.

  In 2008, Madonna ranked second on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in American singles chart.

  Rolling Stone noted that Madonna is “the most media-savvy American pop star since Bob Dylan and, until she toned down her press-baiting behavior in the nineties, she was the most consistently controversial one since Elvis Presley.” She has also proven that she could control her career and image.

  Madonna earned the name “Queen of Reinvention” after she successfully and repeatedly reinvented herself through visual and musical personas. She was able to exploit her sexuality “to fashion herself into a cultural and commercial icon who, for more than a decade, was unchallenged as the reigning Queen of Pop music.” Many critics observed that these reinventions are among Madonna’s key cultural achievements. She reinvented herself by working successfully with talented producers and previously unknown artists. Her reinventions, scholars pointed out, were the tools to survive in the musical industry, especially for a female artist.

  Madonna was also credited for starting a revolution among women in music. She has a penchant for using shocking sexual imagery that benefited her career and catalyzed public discourse on the otherwise taboo subjects of sexuality. The Times noted that Madonna’s “attitudes and opinions on sex, nudity, style and sexuality forced the public to sit up and take notice.” She didn’t fail in shocking the public, whether it was for her unique style or truly controversial performances.

  Now, several decades after she began as a humble girl from Michigan full of dreams and bravado to take on the world, Madonna shows no sign of stopping. She is still an artist, but with more responsibilities in her shoulders and a more mature take on things.

  During one interview in 1998, Madonna described herself as a woman “hungry for change, for everything new, for the unknown” but also acknowledged that changes cannot be forced. She firmly believed that she’d do whatever she wanted and whatever goals she set for herself, she will reach them. Her name was etched in history, and people will always remember he
r, in her words, as “somebody who rather acts than reacts. Maybe that’s more exhausting and challenging but it’s also more satisfying.”

  Lady Gaga: From Fame Monster to Global Superstar

  Jessica Jayne

  Platinum Publishing

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – The Queen of Pop’s Beginnings

  Mom and Dad’s Influence

  Convent of the Sacred Heart

  Chapter 2 – Molding The Future Performer

  Chapter 3 – Making It On Her Own

  Tisch School of the Arts

  A Struggling Artist

  Chapter 4 - Stefani, Her Music, and Her Drugs

  Playing in Bands

  The Starlight Revue

  Chapter 5 - Discovering the Talent

  Musical Influence

  Discovery

  Chapter 6 - The Birth of Lady Gaga

  The Lady Who Invented Lady Gaga

  Chapter 7 – The Road To The Fame

  Signing with Def Jam

  Almost There

  Just Dance

  First Music Video

  Chapter 8 – Unstoppable Success

  Performances

  Chapter 9 - A Meticulous Performer

  Costumes and Accessories

  Chapter 10 - Going Gaga Over Lady Gaga

  Friends and Foes

  Fun Facts

  Chapter 1 – The Queen of Pop’s Beginnings

  Welcome to Lady Gaga’s world. A lot of people think upon hearing her name of a woman who wears provocative and weird costumes and has really successful songs under her name. She is a songwriter in her own right, has played in several bands in high school, and is a media darling for the countless writers and editors wanting to have a piece of her to write about.