Pop Queen & Mom-Of-6, Madonna Opens Up On How The Digital World Impacted Her Relationship With Her Older Children
Music icon, Madonna who is a mom of six including her four youngest adopted from Africa has said she regrets ever giving phones to her children.
In a deeply personal interview with British Vogue, the 60-year-old single mom admitted that providing her older children with phones has had a negative impact on her relationship with them, as their lives are dictated by technology.
This is a problem millions of parents face when their teenage children become obsessed with mobile phones. It’s a daily chore for parents advising children to get off their phones, or to stop staring at their iPads and reduce their screen time.
In the interview, the pop legend noted that mobile phone “ended” her relationship with her children, 22-year-old Lourdes and Rocco, 18. And so keen is the US singer to avoid the same happening with her 13-year-old son David, she is banning him from having a mobile.
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”I made a mistake when I gave my older children phones when they were 13. It ended my relationship with [my children], really. Not completely, but it became a very, very big part of their lives.
They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.”
After deciding not to give her David a mobile phone, the singer says:
“I’m going to stick that one out for as long as possible.”
The Grammy winner also reveals her eldest daughter, 22-year-old Lourdes, has an unhealthy relationship with social media, admitting the criticism her daughter receives online has had a negative impact on her. She said:
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”She doesn’t have the same drive [as me] – and again, I feel social media plagues her and makes her feel like: ‘People are going to give me things because I’m [Madonna’s] daughter.
I try to give her examples of other children of celebrities like Zoe Kravitz (musician Lenny Kravitz’s daughter), for instance, who have to work through that ‘Oh yeah, you’re the daughter of . . . ’ – then eventually you are taken seriously for what you do.”
Madonna and ex-husband Guy Ritchie adopted Malawian son David in 2006 and his promising football career saw the pop icon move to Lisbon where he is currently on the books of Benfica’s academy.
Three years later, she headed back to the African country to adopt daughter Mercy James, now 12, before adding twins Esther and Stella, now six, to her brood in 2017.
Despite not being her biological son, Madonna says David has more of her DNA than her other children. She tells the magazine:
“What David has more than anything is focus and determination. I’m pretty sure he got it from me. He’s the one I have the most in common with.
I feel like he gets me — he has more of my DNA than any of my children so far.”
READ ALSO: American Singer And Mom-Of-6, Madonna Took This Bold Step Because Of Her Son, David
Madonna also reveals that Lourdes — who she had with Cuban dancer Carlos Leon — is pursuing a showbiz career, but is concerned about nepotism allegations. Using her nickname Lola, Madonna says:
“[Lola] is insanely talented. I’m green with envy because she’s incredible at everything she does — she’s an incredible dancer, she’s a great actress, she plays the piano beautifully, she’s way better than me in the talent department. But she doesn’t have the same drive that I have? No.
But she also has a mother, and I didn’t. She grew up with money, and I didn’t. So everything is going to be different. But what can I do? I can’t fixate on it. I just have to do my best.”
Son Rocco, 18, is studying art in London and lives with his father Guy Ritchie after the film-maker won a nine-month custody battle in 2016 — eight years after he and Madonna split.
In the interview, Madonna also discusses the ageism that has hampered her in her recent pop career. She says:
“People have always been trying to silence me for one reason or another, whether it’s that I’m not pretty enough, I don’t sing well enough, I’m not talented enough, I’m not married enough, and now it’s that I’m not young enough. Now I’m fighting ageism, now I’m being punished for turning 60.”
READ ALSO: “I Didn’t Know the Adoption Was Permanent” – Father of Madonna’s Malawian Twins Breaks Silence
Given the length of her career, the Queen of Pop has no contemporaries. She explains:
“There are no living role models for me. Because nobody does what I do. That’s kind of scary. I can look back at women who I think were great and amazing — freedom fighters, like Simone de Beauvoir or Angela Davis — but they didn’t have kids.
Being a single parent of six children, I continue to be creative and be an artist and be politically active, to have a voice, to do all the things that I do. So there isn’t anybody in my position.”
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