Madonna Ciccone
Known simply by her first name Madonna, is an American pop singer-songwriter, record and film producer, film director, dancer, actress, author and a fashion icon.
Susanna Hoffs: "I think she's really great. I respect and admire her and think she's really talented." (From the book "Madonna talking" by Mick St. Michael)
Emanuela Rossi: "I'm a big fan of Madonna, I love her music a lot. I like her persona, her ways to reinvent herself, not being the same all the time. I think it's vital and creative for an artist to look for new ways, new looks, different ways to sing but at the same time keeping those qualities that make you unique. Madonna is also a controversial artist that tends to amaze people in every possible way and the same time I think she's a very authentic person. She looks very visceral to me, also in her quests. She has become quite sophisticated over the years but she stays true to herself and still capable to push people's buttons. I think that's the key of her success."
Nicolas Sarkozy: "The French like burgers, Madonna and Miami Vice."
John Benitez: "My first impression on meeting Madonna? I thought she had a lot of style. And she crossed over a lot of boundaries 'cos everyone in the rock clubs played her, the black clubs, the gay, the straight... and very few records have that appeal."
Tom Hardy: "When we had a break Guy asked if I'd like to meet the wife as she was in the car park and he knew I was a fan. So off we trotted. To be honest, I had the shock of my life. There she was in the back of her Range Rover administering a shot of B12 into the arse of Gerald Butler. Believe me. I was completely stunned to be quite honest, stunned - I mean to throw open the door and see that... I knew it would be magnificent to meet her because she's cult - I mean like Elvis - but the last thing I expected to see was her giving Gerard a shot in his bare arse because he wasn't very well. She does it for her dancers, she's trained doing it, so she decided to do it for the actors as well. She was so cool. She just said to Gerard, 'There you go - bosh! That does it.' And while she was doing that she was talking to me about a load of books I should be reading. I was really thrown."
Stephen Jon Lewicki: "That woman has more sensuality in her ear than most women have anywhere on their bodies."
Marcia Cross: "We used to swim at the same pool. She’d get out and put all this jewelry on - and I’d go home with my wet hair."
Frida Giannini: "Meeting Madonna for the very first time was a shock. She was a myth to me. She was the first poster I hung on my room's wall when I was 14. And then I found herself in front of me, shook her hand. Her immense mediatic power still impresses me. Only to mention that the laminated jacket we made in twelve different versions for her last tour ended up being one of the season's best-sellers would be enough."
Al Gore: "I appreciate and respect her as an artist and as a person."
Christian Thielemann: "I find this woman fascinating. Not just musically... I’d like to get to know Madonna a whole lot better."
"Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac." (Lyric from "Forbidden Love", Bedtime Stories)
Alicia Silverstone: "I'd die if I was Madonna. I'd die. God, what a horrible way to live. And Michael Jackson! To be so famous and to feel so isolated. I feel so bad for them. I don't know how it feels, and I hope it never happens to me."
"If we can elect an African American as president, we can support gay marriage! Defeat prop 8! We will not give up!"
Madonna: "I am a sick fuck I have my nose in everybody's sex life!"
Danja: "She was cool. She had a dark sense of humor that I can’t explain. She might just say something crazy that you might feel is out of line. But it’s not. It’s just her sense of humor. She was in the studio chilling with us, being open and the whole nine."
Dakota Fanning: "I got to meet her one time and she’s so beautiful in person. I’ve never seen her in concert but I would love to, on her tour. But she’s amazing and I hope that she goes for many, many more years."
Marilyn Manson: "I watched a screening of her [Madonna's] film and I was sitting right next to her, which to me was exciting still. I’m not jaded enough to not be excited by that."
"One set of circumstances does not complete you. Maybe nothing ever does. So you work on your life and you work on your 'work' and you try to live every single day like it's your last. And you try to be better, to yourself and to others. I don't always succeed. But I try and it's my goal."
"I think that life is a paradox and you have to embrace that in your work and your belief systems... you can't be a literalist, and that's the trouble that people always find themselves in. That's why people always hit a wall with any of my stuff, because you can't take it literally." Dazed & Confused magazine 29 February 2008
"You don't produce Madonna, you collaborate with her. She's a really good producer herself and obviously a great writer too. I've never worked with anyone before who is as genuine and as hands on as an artist as Madonna is. She's has her vision and knows how to get it. What's interesting with this one is that she's picked a DJ to make dance tunes for her to make songs, which is exactly what she's been doing since 1983 - hanging out with DJ's and making records."