{"id":3727,"date":"2026-05-27T20:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/madonna-recalls-accidentally-starting-a-fire-with-a-space-heater-while-living-illegally-in-a-nyc-building\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:37:07","slug":"madonna-recalls-accidentally-starting-a-fire-with-a-space-heater-while-living-illegally-in-a-nyc-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/madonna-recalls-accidentally-starting-a-fire-with-a-space-heater-while-living-illegally-in-a-nyc-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Madonna recalls accidentally starting a fire with a space heater while living &#8216;illegally&#8217; in a NYC building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F05%2F128865972.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Madonna candidly recalled accidentally starting a fire with a space heater while \u201cillegally\u201d living in a New York City building ahead of her career in the late \u201970s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was living illegally in a building in the Garment District,\u201d the \u201cMaterial Girl\u201d songstress told Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain in an interview released on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no heat in the dead of winter. Everybody knows how cold New York winters are. I was sleeping on the floor with a sleeping bag, and I surrounded myself with some space heaters.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Madonna (seen above) claimed she started a fire with a space heater while \u201cillegally\u201d living in a New York City building. <span class=\"credit\">Bilt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Grammy winner recalled the years before the start of her iconic career during an interview with Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain (seen above) on Wednesday. <span class=\"credit\">Bilt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI started an electrical fire, but I was sleeping, so I woke up, and I was surrounded by flames,\u201d Madonna, 67, explained. <\/p>\n<p>The Grammy winner, who was around the age of 19 at the time, recalled squatting in different buildings after breaking up with her boyfriend because he wouldn\u2019t let her be a singer in his band.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t have anywhere to live, so I escaped to this building called The Music Building on Eighth Avenue,\u201d she added, referring to the Midtown Manhattan building founded in 1979.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\n\u201cI was living illegally in a building in the Garment District,\u201d the hitmaker said. <span class=\"credit\">Bilt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cThere was no heat in the dead of winter. Everybody knows how cold New York winters are,\u201d Madonna (seen above in 1977) added. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe Music Building was full of people grinding to have a music career. There were probably two to three bands per room, and you timeshared the room with people,\u201d Madonna continued, explaining that she slept with a pillow by a bass drum.<\/p>\n<p>She recalled living in the building for about a year before she got a record deal at the Danceteria club on the Lower East Side when she handed DJ Mark Kamins a demo tape.<\/p>\n<p>In collaboration with the \u201cVogue\u201d singer, Bilt, a membership company for where you live and a hospitality platform, is covering one month of rent for musicians living in The Music Building and offering members nationwide a chance to win up to $2,500 in rent.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>She recalled sleeping on the floor while surrounded by space heaters. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The electrical fire started when Madonna (seen above) was asleep. <span class=\"credit\">Michael Ochs Archives<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Additionally, the company released an exclusive limited-edition vinyl of Madonna\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/02\/18\/entertainment\/madonna-and-kids-preview-forthcoming-album-at-chris-rocks-60th-birthday-party\/\">forthcoming album \u201cConfessions On A Dance Floor: Part II.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The album is set for release on July 3, and Bilt will also be hosting\u00a0member-exclusive album release parties in the Big Apple, Los Angeles and Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>Madonna\u2019s highly anticipated album is a follow-up to her iconic 2005 disco album and will feature tracks about her early career, including the song \u201cDanceteria.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The \u201cVogue\u201d songstress (seen above in 1982) woke up and was surrounded by flames. <span class=\"credit\">Redferns<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Madonna (seen above) then moved to The Music Building on Eighth Avenue. <span class=\"credit\">Bilt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The \u201cPopular\u201d singer signed her first record deal with Sire Records in 1982, the same year she released her first single, \u201cEverybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1984, Madonna made her way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 music chart with her first No. 1 single, \u201cLike a Virgin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She earned her first Grammy in 1992 for Best Music Video for her \u201cBlond Ambition World Tour Live\u201d concert film.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/27\/celebrity-news\/madonna-recalls-accidentally-starting-a-fire-with-a-space-heater-while-living-illegally-in-a-nyc-building\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madonna candidly recalled accidentally starting a fire with a space heater while \u201cillegally\u201d living in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/128865972.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}