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Madonna Says She’s ‘Fighting Ageism’ and ‘Being Punished for Turning 60’
She may be one of the most famous performers on the planet, but Madonna feels she is still battling critics everyday — especially when it comes to her age.
“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,” the “Material Girl” singer tells Vogue in a soon-to-be published interview.
“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,” she adds. And while she’s been in the industry more than 35 years, Madonna has always felt alone in her journey, as she reveals she’s never felt the support from fellow women.
“There are no living role models for me,” the songwriter says. “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.”
She continues, “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.”
Madonna has six kids — Lola, 22, Rocco, 18, Mercy and David, 13, and Stella and Estere, both 6. Her eldest is perhaps her most well known, and the hitmaker reveals she may be just as talented.
“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,” Madonna says. “But she doesn’t have the same drive.”
She adds, “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.”
Madonna is still trucking along, and will be releasing her fourteenth album, “Madame X” on June 14, 2019.
