USA TODAY International Edition
Madonna at a crossroads
Material Girl is more spiritual, but music and family keep her grounded
WNEW YORK hoever said size matters obviously never met Madonna. In person, the most durable and deconstructed pop icon of the past two decades is a wee slip of a thing. The face that launched a thousand trends is delicately featured, the yoga- toned frame so slightt hatyo uwonder how Madonna could have emerged intact after tumbling off a horse in August, on her 47th birthday.
The singer did break four ribs, her clavicle and bones in a hand and shoulder as a result of that accident, which took place at the estate she shares with her husband, 6 lmmaker Guy Ritchie, and two children, 9year-old Lourdes and 5- year-old Rocco, in the English countryside. But nine weeks later, Madonna is cast- free.
“ I feel good,” she says, perching daintily on a sofa. “ But then I try to exercise or do something, and I realize that my bones aren’t completely together yet.”
The woman who coined the term “ blond ambition” is not, however, going to let a few aches and pains interfere with her work. Madonna is in town to promote Confessions on a Dance Floor, her 6 rst album since 2003’ s American Life, which arrives Nov. 15. The 6 rstsingle, Hung Up— a thumping, shimmering confection that samples the ABBA hit Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ( A Man After Midnight) — was introduced last week on MTV’s Total Request Live and will be featured on crossover episodes of CBS’ CSI: Miami ( Nov. 7) and CSI: NY ( Nov. 9).
MTV also premiered Madonna’s new documentary, I’m Going to Tell You a Secret, last Friday. The 6 lm, which will re- air on the VH1 and Logo Networks, follows the star on and offstage during her 2004 Reinvention Tour, juggling concert performances with footage of Madonna clowning around with her dancers and crewmates, and with Please see COVER STORY next pageu