Madonna performs lap dance for male model

Pop diva Madonna reportedly performed a lap dance for a male model during a recent night out in Los Angeles.

Madonna, 51, was spotted getting cosy with model Adam Senn during the Mo?t & Chandon event for celebrity photographer Tom Munro on March 6, reports digitalspy.co.uk.

"She arrived with Adam from the back and sat in the VIP area. At one point, she got up and started dancing, and he was grabbing her waist and...," said an insider.

"She turned around and gave him a lap dance and he looked like the happiest guy in the world," the insider added.

However, a source added: "She made sure no photos were taken."

Madonna makes sacrifices

MADONNA has to make sacrifices to juggle a successful career and personal life.
The singer recently directed her first movie W.E. and is planning a new album but admits making sure her children, Lourdes, 14, Rocco, 11, Mercy, six, and five-year-old David, and 24-year-old lover Brahim Zaibat don’t feel neglected is difficult.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper: “You can [have it all] but what you can’t then expect is a good night’s sleep. I have all three; love, children and work. Lucky me. I can’t imagine not having children. I can’t imagine not being in love and I can’t imagine not being creative and doing the work I do.”

Critics boo Madonna’s W.E.

VENICE: Madonna may be the "queen of pop," but her crown as movie director slipped this week after most early reviews of her second feature film "W.E." ranged from middling to poor.

The picture, which had its world premiere at the Venice film festival on Thursday, is loosely based on the life of American divorcee Wallis Simpson, whose affair with Kind Edward VIII led to his abdication.

Madonna said she had been fascinated by the story for some time, pondering why a man would make such a huge sacrifice for love.

Andrea Riseborough stars as Simpson and Abbie Cornish as a modern-day woman who becomes obsessed with the person who prompted a constitutional crisis in 1936.
Britain's Guardian newspaper did not spare Madonna's feelings with a one-out-of-five star review.

"Could it be that Madonna is in deadly earnest here?" wrote Xan Brooks.
"If so, her film is more risible than we had any right to expect; a primped and simpering folly, the turkey that dreamed it was a peacock."

Others were less damning, although the general tone was negative and one website quipped that it may be time for the 53-year-old singer to abdicate as a film maker.

Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter opined: "Madonna's second foray into directing is pleasing to the eyes and ears, but lacking anything for the soul."

And Mark Adams, chief critic for Screen Daily, wrote:
"Madonna aims high as she seeks to tackle love, celebrity, fame, abuse and disappointment, often hitting her targets -- and sometimes not -- but always offering up images that are beautifully shot and staged."

He singled out Riseborough's performance, which he described as "quite brilliant."
The Daily Telegraph gave W.E. three stars out of five, while Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail was generally complimentary.

"A lot of people will loathe it, simply because it's been made by Madonna," he wrote.
"But if they were to watch it with no knowledge of who directed, they would be pleasantly surprised. They might even find much of it enjoyable, although the odd moment may have them wondering if Madge has committed treason."

Some of Madonna's collaborators on the picture had wondered whether viewers' judgments might be colored by their opinion of the 53-year-old celebrity.

"When an iconic, global entity is involved it will be interesting to see how people react to that and whether people can judge the film without their own baggage or how they've felt about Madonna for 30 years," producer Kris Thykier told trade publication Variety.

The budget of W.E. is estimated to be around $15 million, and it hits movie theatres in North America in December. (Reuters)

Comic book on Madonna's life published

LOS ANGELES: A comic book covering the life and times of pop superstar Madonna has been published in the America. It is termed a birthday gift to lady singer.

Bluewater Productions Inc. has made her the latest edition to their 'Female Force' comic series. The 32-page book touches every aspect of her life, starting with her childhood.

The 'Female Force' series covers influential women who have shaped modern history and culture.

Hilary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin have also been included in the series.

Madonna explains 'subconscious' attraction to Wallis Simpson

She became one of the best known, most photographed and then most vilified American women to ever live in England – Wallis Simpson, that is, the subject of Madonna's new movie W.E., which had its world premiere on the Venice Lido.

Directed by the singer, the film is a sympathetic portrait of star-cross'd lovers Edward and Mrs Simpson.

At a press conference following the film's screening at the world's longest running film festival, now in its 68th year, Madonna told journalists "there was obviously some kind of subconscious attraction" to Simpson.

She added: "I identify with her in that it's very common when people become celebrities or public figures or icons, we are often reduced to a soundbite and you are given a few attributes and then you're not allowed to have any more than that."

Madonna said she had spent three years researching and writing the script for W.E., fascinated by the question of why the king would give up the throne for a married woman.

"I think people try to diminish her as a human being because they didn't understand the choice he was making," she said. "It was important to me, not to make her a saint by any stretch of the imagination because I don't think she was, but to portray her as a human being."

In some ways it was brave of Madonna to bring her film to such a big festival. Three years ago she premiered her previous effort Filth and Wisdom at the Berlin film festival, to the incredulity of critics. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote at the time that festival goers were "in a state of clinical shock, deathly pale and mewing like maltreated kittens" after watching it.

W.E. is arguably a better film but there were signs of critics sharpening their pencils to damn it. It is certainly a slightly revisionist take on the story, with Edward coming across as a frustrated social reformer demanding better housing for the poor before supping another gin martini.

The film is told through the eyes of a modern New Yorker, Wally Winthrop, played by Abbie Cornish, who becomes fascinated by the story at a Sotheby's auction preview of the couple's effects. Madonna said she chose to tell parallel stories because she did not want to do a "straightforward biopic" and that truth was subjective.

Many people did not understand the choice the King made, she said, a choice that "changed English history, changed the history of the world in many ways."

Madonna has been married to two film directors. When questioned about this she said: "I am and was attracted to very creative people which is why I married Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, very talented directors, and they both encouraged me as a director to do what I did. They were both very supportive."

Madonna has a patchy record when it comes to film. Aside from Filth and Widsom, she has also acted in a couple of stinkers – not least Swept Away and Body of Evidence.

But this is Madonna, obviously, and she remains undaunted. "I've always loved film, all my life," she said. "As a child I was always inspired by movies and I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to make one."

Asked where her spirituality came into the equation, Madonna replied: "Making films is really hard in the first place. You have to believe in your subject matter and be passionate about it because there will be challenges along the way. You have to be prepared like the captain of a ship, no matter what happens you have got to keep going. So your spiritual foundation has to be strong."

Stories abound of how tricky and controlling Madonna can be to work with, but the film's actors could not praise her enough . Andrea Riseborough – who memorably portrayed the young Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley – stars as Wallis Simpson, while James D'Arcy is Edward VIII.

D'Arcy said: "She had very strong vision, was a very clear communicator and a really good laugh." Natalie Dormer, who plays a young Queen Mother, said Madonna encapsulated what it is to be "a strong woman with a vision" adding that she had an incredibly nurturing spirit.

"Considering the epic requirements needed to write and direct a movie, no question was too small or too stupid," she said.

W.E. was showing out of competition at Venice. In competition, meanwhile, was Roman Polanski's Carnage, a movie version of Yasmina Reza's hit play The God of Carnage starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C Reilly and Christoph Waltz, which drew whoops among the applause. Source:

Madonna’s school: A barren field of failed dreams

CHINKOTA:The abandoned site looks more like a quarried mine than a pop superstar’s multi-million-dollar dream to groom girls into Malawi’s next leaders and doctors. But the bleak, levelled terraces of gravelly sand near Malawi’s capital are the only evidence of Madonna’s $15 million academy which was ditched in a cloud over misused funds and disgruntled locals.

“This has just become a football ground now,” said local chief Binson Kalenga. The bulldozers are long silent where Madonna — who adopted two children from Malawi — laid a foundation stone engraved ‘dare to dream’ in April 2010, in a village in a desperately poor African country that many could not find on a map. A year later the school had been called off.

The star is being sued by former employees, her charity is tied up in a US tax investigation and the Malawi government is investigating how the land was paid for. “Initially although I welcomed it, personally I was very sceptical about the whole thing,” said Lilongwe district commissioner Paul Kalilombe. In January 2011, she said the academy project was off in favour of helping existing schools across the country. The New York Times reported on an audit, ordered by Madonna, and found $3.8 million squandered on the discarded academy.

In Chinkhota, unhappiness began with payments to villagers for the land which Madonna’s charity Raising Malawi, paid through the government. An explanation is yet to reach villagers, who have to swallow a doubly bitter pill with their former fields ruined and not a classroom in sight. “People were surprised that there is no activity,” said Tsiyent Foroyati. As the biggest landowner around the school’s site, she was paid 39,000 kwacha ($258) in compensation.

For the school, Madonna should have worked with an existing organisation that knows “what is actually happening on the ground”, said Kalilombe who believes an orphanage is planned for the academy site.
“She had good intentions, but implementing the project on the ground brought a lot of complications.”
Chief Kalenga said he wants to ask Madonna why the project failed. “We welcomed her as a fellow Malawian,” he said. “We are heartbroken because of the rumours we still hear about this project being stopped. Madonna should come and tell us what has happened.”

Published in The Express Tribune, Pakistan

Pop star Madonna's directorial venture "W.E." will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival

The film is about the life of Britain's King Edward VIII and his American wife Wallis Simpson and a modern-day woman called Wally. It will be screened out-of-competition at the Aug 31-Sep 10 event.

"'W.E.' is about the nature of true love, and the sacrifices and compromises that are often made. I've wanted to tell this story for a very long time, and bringing it to life has been a great adventure for me," Madonna said about her film.

Films included in the competition line-up are "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and Andrea Arnold's new adaptation of classic tale "Wuthering Heights".

"Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky will chair the competition jury that will pick the winner of the Golden Lion Award.

Madonna 'to open Malawi orphan care centre'

Madonna has revealed plans to open an orphanage in Malawi.
The '4 Minutes' singer, who adopted son David and daughter Mercy from the impoverished South African country, explained her charitable goals in an interview for Ovation's new series American Revolutionaries: The Hitmakers.

Madonna explained: "My short term goals are to build an orphan care centre that will service and reach at least 1,000 children and I'm also actively involved in funding several orphanages that already exist."

It was reported in March that Madonna's charity Raising Malawi had squandered more than £2.4 million ($3.8m) over plans for a school that was never built, leading to an upheaval in the foundation's board of directors.

Madonna was later said to be considering taking legal action against the directors following the financial mismanagement.

She revealed in January 2011 that she planned to restructure Raising Malawi so that the charity could operate on a "bigger scale" in the coming years.

Madonna in Comic Book

Madonna will soon star on the pages of a comic book.The star will have her life story told in 32 pages by Bluewater Productions Inc., the latest celebrity to be part of its semi-regular line of "Female Force" comics.

"Our goal is to show the little-known events and influences that resulted in Madonna becoming the phenomenon she remains to this day, more than a quarter-century after she burst upon the scene," said Jason Schultz, Bluewater's executive vice president.

"A visual medium provides perspective that is not only accessible but more relatable to the average person without losing any of the information involved."

"Most pop stars owe everything to this woman. It's amazing all of the things that she's done in her lifetime".

Lady GaGa: Madonna rip-off claim "retarded"

Lady GaGa has branded an interviewer's suggestion that her single 'Born This Way' is a rip-off of Madonna's 1989 hit 'Express Yourself' as "retarded".

In an interview with NME, the musician briskly responded to a question about the melodic resemblance between the two songs.

"I'm a songwriter. I've written loads of music," GaGa asserted. "Why would I try to put out a song and think I'm getting one over on everybody? That's retarded."

She continued: "What a completely ridiculous thing to even question me about… If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression.

"It's the same one that's been in disco music for the last 50 years. Just because I'm the first f**king artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means that I'm f**king smart. Sorry!"

The star went on to profess that 'Born This Way' was divinely inspired, remarking: "I feel like, honestly, God sent me those lyrics and that melody... There's no way for something that pure to be wrong."

GaGa previously responded to criticism of the track by telling Tonight Show host Jay Leno that she'd received a supportive e-mail from Madonna and her representatives.

"I am the hugest fan personally and professionally, and the good news is I got an email from her people and her sending me love and complete support," GaGa claimed at the time.

Vanilla broke up with Madonna over her Sex

Infamous rapper-turned-reality-star Vanilla Ice has revealed that he broke up with Madonna over her explicit ‘Sex’ book.

The pair split in 1992 after an eight-month relationship, reports Digital Spy.

"I broke up with her after she printed [the explicit book, "Sex"] because I was hurt to be an unwitting part of this slutty package," the 43-year-old told News of the World.

Ice, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, appeared in the 1992 book in a sexually suggestive position with a fully nude Madonna, but admitted to the U.K. paper that he found it "disgusting and cheap."

"We were in a relationship, yet it looked like she was screwing all these other people," the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

"I thought she was taking pictures and running round naked because she was like that. Then when the book came out I was so embarrassed and ashamed. It was a porno." Madonna, 52, "threw me in like I was a product off a shelf, and I didn't appreciate it," he said.

"That was it and I ended it," the musician recalled. "She said she didn't have sex with these men, but it looked like she was," he added.

Madonna to invest in Malaysian man's nightclub

Pop queen Madonna is talks with a Malaysian tycoon to invest in his nightclubs.
"Madonna sees it as a natural move. She has ambitious plans," said one of her associates.

Madonna reportedly met Tony Fernandes, a Malaysian entrepreneur who owns Aura Mayfair, in London to discuss buying a stake in the company, reports telegraph.co.uk.

The company also runs events after Formula One Grand Prix races around the world and Fernandes, 46, is the team principal of the Lotus Racing team.

Madonna decade's most talked about celebrity

Pop star Madonna has topped a list of Britain's most talked about celebrities in the past decade.

The 52-year-old singer has been mentioned more than any other star in the British print press and scored 46,017 namechecks, reports contactmusic.com.

Brian Merron of Kantar Media, who compiled the figures, wasn't surprised by the outcome.

"This is why she's hailed as a legend," he said.

Madonna's namechecks in the last decade got a boost thanks to her marriage and divorce from filmmaker Guy Ritchie, subsequent relationships with models Jesus Luz and Brahim Zaibat who are half her age, the birth of her son Rocco, adoption of two children David and Mercy, and four major world tours.

The second and third spots have been occupied by "The X Factor" judge Simon Cowell and singer Robbie Williams respectively.

Here's a list of the top 10 most talked about celebrities of the decade:

1. Madonna (46,017)
2. Simon Cowell (29,888)
3. Robbie Williams (28,563)
4. Kate Moss (28,056)
5. Britney Spears (27,588)
6. Victoria Beckham (25,833)
7. David Beckham (24,953)
8. Michael Jackson (24,688)
9. Sir Paul McCartney (21,556)
10. Kylie Minogue (19,694)

Madonna to open line of gyms

Madonna has announced that she and her investors intend to open several luxurious gyms around the world.

The chain of gyms will be called Hard Candy Fitness, and the first branch will open in Mexico City.

Subsequent centres are expected to be unveiled in Russia, Brazil, Argentina and 'several locations throughout Europe and Asia'.

The gymnasiums were described in an official statement as "facilities where fitness, fashion and entertainment create a unique member experience".

Madonna herself is said to be taking part in the design process, as New Evolution Ventures chairman Mark Mastrov explained: "Hard Candy Fitness will be a reflection of Madonna's point of view and will reflect her input on every detail including music space, light and other design cues. Madonna's touch will be everywhere."

Madonna dating tour choreographer?

Madonna has reportedly struck up a relationship with a male dancer 19 years her junior.

The pop icon, who split from former lover Jesus Luz in February, sparked rumours of a romance with her 'Sticky & Sweet' tour choreographer Brahim Rachiki after the two were seen "sneaking kisses and laughing" at a New York nightclub on Thursday.

A source told Page Six: "They came in together and were holding hands in a private area. Madonna got up and was dancing for an hour straight before going back to her man. They immediately started making out in front of other guests."

The insider reports that the pair then moved to another club in Greenwich Village, where they continued to show off their affection for one another.

"After working the dance floor, they found more private seating where they hugged and kissed for the rest of the night."

Madonna and Daughter Kick Off New Fashion Line

Madonna and her young daughter, Lourdes Leon, have joined forces to create a new fashion line. It’s called Material Girl and the clothes are really cute.

Lourdes has been a bit of a fashionista since birth. I suppose having a super rich mom who has taken fashion risks her entire career would lead to this sort of thing.

Madonna and her daughter provided a viewing for their clothing line at the Macy’s store in New York City. Taylor Momsen is one of the spokesgirls for the line. She was present at the NY launch, dressed in a black mini-dress, straight hair and tons of eye makeup. Her dress was paired with thigh-high boots.

Lourde’s of course was in attendence and I suppose dressed to impress. Her style was a bit of a departure from Taylor. She wore shorts, a cool-looking black, leather jacket, flannel shirt and odd looking ripped tights (sorry I don’t like this look).

Kiddie lines have proven to be pretty popular, think Miley Cyrus and the Olsen Twins. Parents tend to spend money on their children even in a struggling economy. Kids are persistant when it comes to wearing the right clothes and parents often give in.

We’ll have to wait awhile to see how this new launch plays out. Either way, both Madonna and her daughter will be fine. Madonna has plenty of money for the both of them and probably several small countries as well!

Madonna's daughter to make debut with mum's film

'Queen of Pop' Madonna's teenaged daughter Lourdes will make her big screen debut in her mother's much hyped directorial venture W.E.

The 13-year-old, billed as Lola Leon in the film credits, was spotted on the set shooting in a school uniform, reported Daily Mail online.

It's not known yet exactly what part she's playing and how big her role will be.

Before she changed into her costume, Lourdes had joined her mother on the shoot with brothers Rocco and David to see what progress was being made yesterday.

Madonna was shooting in Mayfair yesterday outside hotel Claridges, as well as outside a makeshift Downing Street located in Aldwych.

W.E, Madonna's second film as a director, tells the story of Edward VIII's relationship with Wallis Simpson.

The USD 30 million film, currently being shot in Britain and France, intersperses Edward's affair with the American divorcee with a love story set in 1998.

Madonna's first film Filth and Wisdom was met by negative reviews when it was put on limited release two years ago.

Madonna 'refuses Mercy's father access'

Madonna has refused to allow a man said to be the father of her adopted daughter to visit the 4-year-old, after questioning the legitimacy of his claims.

The 52-year-old singer adopted daughter Mercy from a Malawi orphanage last year. James Kambewa has since come forward and requested a meeting with the child, saying that he is her biological father.

However, Madonna's spokeswoman Barbara Charone told the South African Sunday Times: "The extended family members had no knowledge of a father. The village leadership had no knowledge of a father... the mother was raped and left."

Kambewa, a 26-year-old waiter from Durban, initially opposed the adoption, but has since told newspapers that he is happy that Mercy is living with the star.

Mercy is the second child Madonna has adopted from the African country, after adopting son David in 2006 with ex-husband Guy Ritchie.

Madonna 'wants Lady GaGa for tour'

Madonna reportedly wants Lady GaGa to join her on her next world tour.

The singer is hoping to get the 'Bad Romance' star to be the opening act for her next year, according to the News of the World.

A source said: "Madonna is absolutely obsessed with GaGa.

"She thinks she is the most cutting-edge star to come out of pop in ages and desperately wants to work with her. Basically, GaGa can name her price."

The report claims that plans for Madonna's next tour are already under way, as part of her deal with Live Nation.

Celebrities and Their Odd Phobias …

Phobias aren’t as abnormal as most people think. I’m severely arachnophobic, and cannot stand spiders. They don’t scare me, as such, they terrify me. And I have a friend who is so claustrophobic that anything less than a medium sized room will induce vomiting and panic attacks, almost straight away. Phobias always seemed to be something quite secret, though, so I was surprised to learn that these ten celebs have them too!

1. Johnny Depp
The fearless pirate isn’t as fearless as he first seemed… he suffers from arachnophobia, plasmophobia and coulrophobia. Which means he is scared of spiders, ghosts and clowns! “There’s something about the painted face and the fake smile. There seems to be a real darkness lurking under the surface, a potential for real evil,” Depp explained. Well, I’m with him on the spiders, and I do my best to avoid clowns!

2. Billy Bob Thornton
Angelina Jolie’s ex Thornton has a phobia of antiques… he refuses to stay in the room with furniture made before 1950. Which sounds very unusual, but apparently 250,000 people in America suffer from this same problem. “I’ve had friends tell me that maybe I was beaten to death by an antique chair in a former life,” Billy has said, by way of explanation… well, whatever causes it, it’s not as rare a phobia as I thought!

3. Alfred Hitchcock
Film maker and produced Hitchcock has another odd phobia… the fear of eggs. Especially runny ones… people who worked with Alfred claimed that cracking an egg made him gag, and he wouldn’t eat any food containing eggs. And suddenly my fear of spiders doesn’t seem that bad… His daughter explained her dad’s fear by saying, “He just said they were so horrible-looking… that you’d cut into them and that yellow stuff would run all over. He thought it was absolutely disgusting.”

4. Christina Ricci
Christina suffers from botanaphobia, which is a fear of house plants. Sufferers find plants dirty, and can’t bring themselves to water them… Christina admitted, “If I have to touch one, after already being repulsed by the fact that there is a plant indoors, it freaks me out.” So I guess she doesn’t have green fingers… I think I’d miss my house plants if I had to put them all outside!

5. Tyra Banks
While most of us would love to swim with our intelligent friends, Tyra won’t be jumping in the pool with dolphins anytime soon. “I have dreams that I’m in a pool and there are dolphins bumping me and I am frightened.” She revealed, and she has reportedly suffered from the phobia since she was just eight years old. A pretty rare phobia!

6. Matthew McConaughey
Matthew has famously admitted to having a fear of revolving doors, and of tunnels. It’s not being underground that bothers him, but the point where you go from being above ground to underneath… and he’s also revealed that he hasn’t worn deodorant in twenty years. I’m a little anxious about revolving doors myself, especially the vicious ones…

7. Nicole Kidman
Nicole suffers from lepidopterophobia, which is a fancy word for the fear of butterflies. “It’s so bizarre. I’m not scared of snakes or spiders,” Kidman revealed, and even tried to face her fear by going through the butterfly exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, but couldn’t make it through. I share the same fear… I can’t go outside if I can see a butterfly. I love their colours, and their patterns, but their bodies scare me and I’m terrified if they land on me.

8. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has a weird phobia…she’s scared of chewing gum. There is a rational explanation, however. “My grandmother used to save it (used gum) in little rows in the cabinet. I’d be scared to touch it because it was so gross, so I have a thing about gum. One guest in my home sat at the dinner table, took out some gum from her mouth and put it on the plate. After she left, I threw the plate out.” I think I’d be pretty scared of gum after that, too.

9. Madonna
Madonna has something in common with my dog… they are both utterly petrified of thunder. Named brontophobia, it’s a surprisingly common phobia! It can cause panic attacks, trembling, crying, a rapid heartbeat and a feeling of dread, even if the sufferer knows they are at no risk. I’m not particularly good during thunder storms, especially if I’m alone, so I sympathise!

10. Natalie Wood
Actress Natalie Wood suffered from hydrophobia, a fear of water, for her entire life. She died in 1981, after falling out of a boat into the water, and drowning. Her death was recorded as accidental drowning, as Wood had drank a few glasses of wine and didn’t remove her heavy coat and sweater. It makes you think, though… maybe phobias do have a purpose?
Well, now I’ve made myself look like a scaredy-cat (I’m not scared of life, I promise, but I do flinch at my own shadow)… I’m fascinated by how normal phobias are! It would appear that most people are scared of something, and that makes me feel a lot better. Have you got a phobia, or do you know of a celeb I’ve missed off? I’d love to hear about it!