Madonna hints at past rift with daughter Lourdes Leon amid 'family trauma' revelation
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Madonna has made an unexpected comment about “family trauma” as she suggested she faced challenges in her relationship with her daughter, Lourdes Leon.
The ‘Queen of Pop’ is the mother of six children, two biological and four adopted. Lourdes is her eldest child, whom she welcomed with former partner Carlos Leon.
Lourdes Leon approached Madonna to write song
Recently, the music icon spoke with Interview Magazine, sharing, “The song I wrote with my daughter, Lola. She approached me about writing a song together as a way to heal our relationship."
“It was a really important moment, and it solidified the idea that now is the time to make this record,” she noted. Madonna and her 29-year-old daughter co-wrote ‘Good for the Soul’ for the icon’s fifteenth studio album, ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II.’
Madonna opens up about personal struggles
The 67-year-old singer also revealed to Interview Magazine that her latest work was inspired by “family trauma” she was experiencing at the time.
“I had a lot of stuff going on in my life personally. My brother was very, very, very ill, and my stepmother, with whom I’d had a very traumatic relationship throughout my entire childhood, had just died,” she said.
Madonna also asserted that “it’s hard for me to write a song about nothing. I have to tell a story. So I wrote about a lot of family trauma, and then we started making dance music.”
The ‘Material Girl’ hitmaker lost her brother, Christopher Ciccone, to cancer in 2024. He was 63. His death came weeks after their stepmother, Joan Ciccone, died following “a brief encounter with a very aggressive cancer.”
Earlier, Lourdes had spoken about her complicated relationship with her famous mother.
“My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school,” the dancer said in 2021.
Lourdes Leon praises Madonna's work ethic
Lourdes, however, also acknowledged her mother's influence and work ethic.
She added, “I didn’t fully comprehend that until I realized the importance of empowerment and what it means to be a woman. She’s probably the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. I didn’t inherit that, unfortunately. I inherited her control issues, but not her work ethic.”
Madonna’s other biological child is her son, Rocco Ritchie, 25, whom she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. Her adopted children are 20-year-olds David Banda and Mercy James, and 13-year-old twins Estere and Stelle Ciccone.
