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.
"It takes a Real man to fill my shoes." Said during The VMA's '99, after number of men put a drag show dressed as her
"She never had public favor; it was a bit like the Hillary Clinton thing. She did all the right things for her country, but she wasn't ultimately revered. So she had a conversation with her confidant-adviser. She asked him, when have they ever looked up to or idolized a woman? Only one, he told her, the Virgin Mary. So she said, Then I will become like the Virgin Mary, and she did. She created a facade for herself; she stopped having lovers; she became like a virgin. She became sexless, and painted her face in a white alabaster way, and turned herself into an icon that was untouchable and sexless, and then she had everybody's respect." About Queen of England, Elizabeth I in Aperture Magazine 1999
Susan Seidelman: "She is an incredibly disciplined person. During the shoot [of Desperately Seeking Susan] we'd often get home at 11 or 12 at night and have to be back on the set by 6 or 7 the next morning. Half the time the driver would pick Madonna up at her health club. She'd get up at 4:30 in the morning to work out first."
Amy Arbus: "Madonna just wandered along like everyone else. I recognized her as the girl who went to my gym — as the girl who would sit around naked longest in the locker room. Now that I think back on it, how could either of us have afforded a gym membership? She still had a last name at that point, and when I told her I worked for the Voice, she said, 'Oh, that’s so funny. They’re reviewing my first single this week.' I recently looked back—it only took six frames to get that picture. I just think the look on her face is so prescient—it really has a sense of knowing what’s in store for her."
"The cross is a very powerful symbol and it symbolizes suffering, but it also is connected to a person who was loving and sharing and his message was about unconditional love. I tried to take a powerful image and use it to draw attention to a situation that needs attention. For me, we all need to be Jesus in our time. Jesus' message was to love your neighbor as yourself and these are people in need." Explaining the controversial crucifixion scene in her Confessions tour
"A lot of people are just really confused by me; they don’t know what to think of me, so they try to compartmentalize me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you’re fearing something that it’s bringing up in you."
James Franco: "After our kiss, Sean texted Madonna and said, 'I just popped my cherry kissing a guy. I thought of you. I don't know why.' " Out magazine
Donna Summer: "I was sitting around thinking I should do something. I was thinking about design school. A friend said, 'Are you out of your mind? Do an album.' But I like privacy and I like my space. I like being with my family. You have to be in the right frame of mind. You can't be like 'Don't touch me.' to your fans or saying 'I don't want to sign autographs.' I think I was exhausted for a lot of years. I have to take my hat off to people like Madonna. They keep doing it."
Hilary Duff: "Oh, [I'm] definitely [a fan]. I grew up listening to Madonna. It feels surreal getting to do a cover of "Material Girl". It’s such a great dance song."
"No man can have sex with anyone but me and since I don't have that kind of time on my hands, you might as well all be gay!" (Joked during Johnjay and Rich interview, 11 April '08).
"That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out. I know these things for sure." Talking about Kabbalah
Ashanti: "Yeah, Madonna is ill. All the clamps and chains people had on what women can and cannot do — she just broke them. And I really wasn’t up on Madonna until my cousin — who’s six years older than me and my favorite relative on the planet; we’re more like sisters — when I was eight or nine I said, ‘Why you got these posters of that white lady all over your room?’ She’s like, ‘This is Madonna!’"
Nathan Rissman: It was amazing working with Madonna. She does everything 100 per cent, and so to be involved in what she was doing, for her to let me go forward and make this project was amazing. She's been involved creatively on every aspect. She knows pictures, she knows sound, she's really, really good. The most memorable thing about working with Madonna is seeing her in the village - seeing her really letting go of that celebrity status, really spending time with people, getting her feet dirty, and dancing, singing and crying with people. It was amazing to see her take on that new character. Madonna really wanted to bring some awareness to Malawi, and she really believed in me.
Natassia Malthe: "I'm a fan of Madonna's. I've followed her since I was 10. I'm a huge fan of hers - which woman isn't? She's such a strong person, she's just so different from anybody else. She's sustained herself in this business. I go to everything that is Madonna, she is just an amazing human being."
"I love horses. I think I may have been one of Henry VIII’s knights in another life, riding through a great forest."
Susan seidelman: "She's the kind of person that really does get up at five in the morning to go swimming. She wasn't at all prima donna-ish. She wasn't one of those people that want to be alone and sit in their trailer the whole time. I think she has much more of a sense of humor that people give her credit for. Too many people take that femme fetale stuff at face value."
David Fincher: "Madonna is my Vatican. She’s my Sistine Chapel."
"I'm not going to compromise my artistic integrity." (Spoken in her documentary Truth or Dare.)
Bernard Manning: "Madonna? Lovely. Oh yes. Nice skin. You could tell she wasn't a scrubber."