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Having a famous mom can’t be easy. Can you imagine what it must be like to share your mom with the world at large? Singer and cultural icon Madonna became a mom in 1996 when she gave birth to her daughter Lourdes Leon.
It’s hard to believe that Lourdes is now an adult with a life of her own. Even though Madge has done a good job keeping her kids out of the public eye, she has given us glimpses over the years. Recently, she spoke about her newest project, and how it helped change her relationship with her oldest. Her reveal made a lot of sense when you hear what her daughter had to say about their relationship a few years ago.
Madonna is promoting her new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II.
In a recently released feature by Interview magazine, the 67-year-old singer revealed that she collaborated with her daughter on one of the album’s tracks.
“The song I wrote with my daughter, Lola. She approached me about writing a song together as a way to heal our relationship,” she said. “It was a really important moment, and it solidified the idea that now is the time to make this record.”
She didn’t give any details about what led to their relationship needing healing, but did also reveal that around the same time, she was dealing with the death of her stepmother, who she had a “very traumatic relationship” with as a child.
Shortly after the death of her stepmother, her brother also died. “All these symbolic things happened. My step-mother died, my brother was ill, my brother died, my daughter approached me,” she said. And it led to the creation of her fifteenth album.
Though we have no context, Lourdes made a shocking claim about her mom several years ago.
“My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life,” the then 25-year-old told her mom’s BFF, actress Debi Mazar during a conversation for Interview magazine in 2021. “I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.”
Leon said that the main way she asserted her independence from her mom was to pay for her college tuition by herself. She also paid for her own New York apartment.
“We don’t get any handouts in my family,” she said. However, she did acknowledge that she “grew up with extreme privilege. There’s no denying that.”
“But I think my mom saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, ‘My kids are not going to be like this.’ Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you.”
Despite feeling controlled, she did acknowledge her mom’s impact on culture and music.
“I don’t cringe,” she said about her mom’s musical catalog. As she’s gotten older, she’s been “increasingly able to recognize how influential and amazing this woman is, and how empowering to other women and ahead of her time she has always been.”
She admitted that she “didn’t fully comprehend” Madonna’s impact until she “realized the importance of empowerment and what it means to be a woman.”
Leon went on to call her mom “the hardest worker” she’s ever seen. However, she claims that when it comes to work ethic, she didn’t inherit that from her superstar mom.
“I inherited her control issues, but not her work ethic.”
Even though that may be true, she shared some great advice that her mom gave her, which she really seems to take to heart. When she expressed concern about not making enough money to afford a certain lifestyle, Madonna got incredibly honest.
“It’s not about the money or your face or how hot you look. It’s about what you’re bringing into the world and what you’re going to leave behind,” the legend said. According to Lourdes, the advice “shakes me awake when I get too caught up in everything.”
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