STILL IN VOGUE AT 60
Madonna’s best decade yet
Madonna is the queen of reinventing herself every decade. Who can forget the poppy Material Girl days, the darkness of the Like a Prayer era, the back-tobasics of Ray of Light or the diamante cowgirl of the 2000s.
But as she approaches 60 this month – yes, this thought would age anyone! – her most recent reinvention has come completely out of the blue.
Madonna is now a soccer mum. The superstar has upped and left New York for the more cultured and relaxed life of Lisbon, Portugal, in order to give her children a new perspective and allow her talented adopted son,
David Banda, to have access to one of the best soccer academies in the world.
“I felt like we needed a change and I wanted to get out of America for a minute
– as you know, this is not America’s finest hour – not that leaving America makes it different or changes anything. I’ve lived in other places; I lived in London for 10 years. I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations and take risks,” she says about making the dramatic decision. “It’s a different kind of challenge. When I moved to New York, it was just about me, and taking care of the child in me. I’m still in survival mode, but I have four younger children to think of now.”
And while she may have moved to a house of mansion proportions with staff, beautiful gardens and her six chefs, the superstar has stripped back her glamorous life for the trappings of single motherhood.
“Any woman who is a soccer mum could say it kind of requires you to have no life in a way; because things change from week to week, and games change from weekend to weekend – sometimes they’re in the city, sometimes they’re not, and we would never know until Thursday night whether they’re on Saturday or Sunday, if at 12 o’clock or later. It’s impossible to make plans.”
But all that doesn’t mean the Vogue hitmaker is saying goodbye to the show-stopping music and performance career that she is so well known for.
Madonna’s 60th birthday will see her release new music and begin a tour. And while not much is known about the new sounds yet, she assures that her new life in Lisbon has influenced it heavily.
“I’ve just met lots of really amazing musicians, and I’ve ended up working with a lot of these musicians on my new record, so Lisbon has influenced my music and my work.”
As her life appears to be in a happy and stable place, Madonna finds herself flying solo for the first time in a while. No-one could argue the turbulence that came with the singer’s previous relationships, each seemingly mirroring eras in their own way. From flings with Prince, Tupac, Warren Beatty and her 20-something toyboy Jesus, to her relationship with trainer Carlos Leon − which resulted in the birth of her eldest daughter Lourdes (21) − and her eight-year marriage to director Guy Ritchie, whom she had son Rocco (18) with – she’s loved and lost many times.
But after adopting her four younger children from Malawi – David (12), Mercy (12) and six-year-old twins Stelle and Estere − the adoring mum now spends much of her time focusing on her charity Raising Malawi, and making sure all of her children feel connected to their families and country of birth. She opened Malawi’s first children’s hospital last year, has contributed to building 10 schools and continues to help with the HIV/Aids crisis.
“I love when my kids are in Africa,” Madonna says. “Their selfless behaviour, compared to the normal complaining in the privileged world we live in, is great to see.”
As Madonna prepares for her 60th, even she admits her life doesn’t look like she thought it would. “Six kids, no husband, single mum − I never thought that would be me.
“But pretty much everything that’s ever happened to me in this life is something that I never imagined.”