Madonna has given a rare in-depth interview, and made her first podcast appearance, sitting down with Jay Shetty for a discussion about spirituality, her life and her work.
The singer has given few longform interviews in recent decades, but she said she took up Shetty’s offer for a discussion because she was eager to chat about the role spirituality played in her life. Over two hours the pair covered a lot of ground.
The British author and life coach focusses on discussions about mental health, life purpose and his video podcast has over 4.7 million subscribers.
Madonna said in a chaotic world it was important to find moments of peace and quiet to look inward and ask important questions about your life, family and work.
The iconic singing star said she began focusing on spirituality in her life when she realised that despite having fame, fortune, and a successful career, she wasn’t happy.
She said the spiritual practice of Kabbalah had been a big impact on her life, and it immediately influenced her work when she created her best selling Ray of Light album.
She also reflected on some of her contemporaries who are no longer with us, sharing that she’s learned to consider herself as someone who manages her talent rather than owning it, and describing the create process as channeling light.
“A lot of people have these great meteoric careers, and they rise up and they take the world by storm, and they influence the masses, and then something happens – and they can’t handle the light, they’re not even aware of it, and in a way they fly too close to the light and it burns them.”
“I would say that is true of many of my peers that I had, I was lucky enough to know them, whether that’s Prince or Michael Jackson, or Jean Michel Basquiat, the painter.” Madonna said.
The singer also reflected on her 2016 Australian tour where she was often criticised for starting shows incredibly late. Madonna shared that at the time she was going through a custody battle with her ex-husband film director Guy Ritchie over their son Rocco.
The singer said at the time she was experiencing suicidal thoughts, saying it was one of the most painful periods of her life.
“I would just be lying on the floor of my dressing room, sobbing,” she said. “I really thought it was the end of the world. I couldn’t take it.”
The singer and her son later reconciled and now have a close relationship, and he has a successful career as an artist.
Madonna also reflected on her 2023 health scare when she suffered sepsis and spent several days unconscious in intensive care.
“I was rehearsing for my tour, and I got a bacterial infection,” she recalled. “One minute I was alive and dancing around and the next minute I was in the ICU unit of a hospital and I woke up from being unconscious for four days.”
The illness delayed her world tour and the singer shared that it took her months to recover from the illness, and it also changed her view on forgiveness and making amends.
Madonna shared that she’s learning to not hold on to grudges or seek revenge on people who’ve wronged her and instead leaned in to “radical acceptance”.
“There have been times in my life where I’ve thought, ‘I’ll never forgive this person’, but now I don’t want to have those feelings, it’s a prison and a poison.” she said.
She shared that she was glad to have made her peace with her younger brother Christopher Ciccone prior to his death.
The pair were inseparable early in her career and he went on to design her stage shows and many houses, but they had a falling out during her marriage to Ritchie. Christopher went on to write a tell-all book about his famous sister. Chatting to Shetty she shared how she’d forgiven him prior to his passing.
She also shared that she’s written a song for her brother which might be on her upcoming album which is expected to arrive in 2026.
Listen to the epic chat.
