{"id":8533,"date":"2026-07-12T11:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/what-caused-madonna-and-daughter-lourdes-tense-relationship\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:58:38","slug":"what-caused-madonna-and-daughter-lourdes-tense-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/what-caused-madonna-and-daughter-lourdes-tense-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"What caused Madonna and daughter Lourdes\u2019 \u2018tense\u2019 relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-nthq333gt-1783724555503.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261783710188\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>At nearly 68, Madonna looks like she will elbow past Gen-Z hitmakers Olivia Rodrigo and Ella Langley to have the #1 Billboard album this coming week.<\/p>\n<p>And she did it by getting more personal than ever in the lyrics for \u201cConfessions on a Dance Floor Part II,\u201d with songs believed to be about her late brother, stepmother, and <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/07\/02\/entertainment\/madonna-seemingly-takes-aim-at-ex-husband-sean-penn-in-new-confessions-ii-song\/\">ex-husband Sean Penn<\/a>,\u00a0who Madonna sings was \u201cthreatened by\u201d her.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cThere have been moments when Madonna and Lola didn\u2019t speak,\u201d a friend of Madonna told Page Six said of the singer and her daughter (n\u00e9e Lourdes Leon). \u201cLola always felt that Madonna had been quite tough on her while growing up, unnecessarily so.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There\u2019s also a duet performed and co-written with her 29-year-old daughter, Lola (n\u00e9e Lourdes) Leon, who approached the superstar about writing a song together \u00a0\u201cas a way to heal our relationship,\u201d Madonna <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/07\/03\/entertainment\/madonna-daughter-lourdes-leon-sing-about-turbulent-relationship-in-new-song-the-test\/\">recently said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Madonna, meanwhile, \u201calso felt guilty about bringing Lola up in a world of unimaginable fame and about how that had an impact on her life. <\/p>\n<p>In the song, Madonna calls her daughter \u201clittle star\u201d \u2014 the same affectionate name she called her by on her \u201cRay of Light\u201d album in 1998, when Lola was two years old.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn\u2019t ask for all the flashing lights\/ I didn\u2019t think of how it could disturb\/ Or how it hurt\/ I wish I knew\/ The pain I\u2019ve caused,\u201d she sings.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Madonna and Lola duet on the song \u201cThe Test\u201d on the superstar\u2019s new album, \u201cConfessions on a Dance Floor Part II.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lola, seen here at age 7 with her mom, asked to co-write \u201cThe Test\u201d as a way to heal their relationship. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cShe understands how a child of someone so famous would struggle with their own identity, and she has felt guilty about that,\u201d the friend said. \u201cThe distance came partly because Lola didn\u2019t want to be seen as a nepo baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lola was born to Madonna and Carlos Leon, a fitness trainer the singer dated from 1994 to 1997 after meeting while she was jogging and he was biking in Central Park. Stories have circulated for years about how strict the otherwise libertine singer is with her six children (including sons Rocco Ritchie, 25, and David Banda, 20, whom she adopted with ex-husband and film director Guy Ritchie; and adopted daughters Mercy James, 20, and Stella and Estere, both 13).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lola has called Madonna a \u201ccontrol freak\u201d in the past. <span class=\"credit\">WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Over the years, it\u2019s been reported that Madonna is very strict with her children: Lola, twins Estere and Stella, Rocco, David Banda and Mercy James. <span class=\"credit\">madonna\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI think my mom saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, \u2018My kids are not going to be like this \u2026 \u2018 \u201d Lola told Interview magazine. \u201cMy mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That meant moving to Bushwick, Brooklyn, after growing up between London and Manhattan \u2014\u00a0where she graduated from LaGuardia High School and <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2021\/04\/22\/lourdes-leon-opens-up-about-hs-romance-with-timothee-chalamet\/\">dated a pre-fame Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet<\/a> \u2014 and trying to start her own music career. She was more recently involved with <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2020\/01\/09\/lourdes-leon-and-her-boyfriend-hit-the-beach\/\">Jonathan Puglia<\/a>, a photographer and skateboarder, but is said to be single now.<\/p>\n<p>As Lolahol, she released a handful of dance-pop singles in 2022 and 2023, but nothing more recently. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The singer was in a nostalgic mood while working on \u201cConfessions II,\u201d a source told Page Six \u2014\u00a0leading to some of her most personal lyrics ever. <span class=\"credit\">Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for The Met Museum\/Vogue<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMadonna always felt that Lola didn\u2019t want to be associated with her mother when it came to music, so she was really touched when Lola suggested it,\u201d the friend said. \u201cMadonna and Lola have sometimes struggled to just be, as there is quite a lot of pain there, but they are doing really well thanks to creating this song together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the last few years, she had been working on a script about her life, with actress Julia Garner <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/03\/23\/style\/madonna-and-julia-garner-twin-in-venice-after-scrapped-biopic\/\">set to play the star<\/a> after a grueling audition process. But the production was scrapped amid a reported budget disagreement with Universal Pictures.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>On the song \u201cFragile,\u201d she sings of being visited by the spirit of her brother Christopher, who passed away in 2024. Once incredibly close, the two had a fraught relationship in the years before his death. <span class=\"credit\">Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>She also sings, reportedly, about her late stepmother, Joan (with Madonna\u2019s father, Tony Ciccone): \u201cYou\u2019ll never take my mother\u2019s place.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Ciccone Vineyard &amp; Winery<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Madonna then attempted to turn her life story into a series, working on a script for Netflix. When that stalled over struggles to find the right showrunner, she decided to use her memories for a new creative project. <\/p>\n<p>The singer had worked with producer Stuart Price on the 2005 album \u201cConfessions on a Dance Floor,\u201d a fan favorite that included her hit song \u201cHung Up.\u201d In 2024, she visited Price\u2019s home in London to see whether the old magic was there. At the time, her brother Christopher Ciccone was dying of pancreatic cancer and her stepmother, Joan Clare, had just passed away.<\/p>\n<p>Madonna recently told Interview that \u201ca lot of the songs here are confessional. I feel like my brain is tuned into memory and how it\u2019s all connected and where it has brought me. The past is such an important part of my life \u2014 not to dwell in, but to learn from and share with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cConfessions II\u201d is out now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She sings on \u201cFragile\u201d: \u201cWhen I\u2019m alone\/ I see you standing there\/ I see inside your soul\/And I feel whole.\u201d It is believed to be about Christopher, who had once been her closest ally and confidant, even working with her as a choreographer and dancer. <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2017\/08\/03\/madonnas-brother-still-thinks-shes-horrific\/\">But the two had fallen out<\/a> \u2014\u00a0with Christopher saying his sister held grudges \u2014\u00a0in part over his 2008 book, in which he called Penn \u201cintense,\u201d Carlos Leon \u201cthick\u201d and Guy Ritchie \u201ca poser.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t speak to him for years, years and years,\u201d Madonna told podcaster Jay Shetty in 2025. \u201cIt was him being ill and reaching out to me and saying, \u2018I need your help,\u2019 and me having that moment like, \u2018Am I going to help my enemy?\u2019 That\u2019s how it felt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, she had a rocky relationship with Joan, the woman who married Madonna\u2019s widowed father, Tony Ciccone, when the singer was just eight years old. \u201cI didn\u2019t accept my stepmother when I was growing up,\u201d she once told Larry King.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The new song \u201cBizarre\u201d seems to address Madonna\u2019s turbulent marriage to Sean Penn. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The two, divorced since 1989, have remained friends. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Joan died <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/09\/26\/entertainment\/madonnas-stepmom-joan-ciccone-dies-a-very-aggressive-cancer-at-81\/\">after being diagnosed<\/a> with an aggressive form of cancer. In the song \u201cBetrayal,\u201d Madonna sings: \u201cWhen the book of love is written, I am the writer\/ And by the last page, you will not be mentioned \u2026 You\u2019ll never take my mother\u2019s place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And then there is Penn. The two had<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2015\/03\/13\/the-many-men-and-one-woman-of-madonna\/\"> a turbulent marriage<\/a>\u00a0from 1985 to 1989, including the actor\u2019s several scuffles with paparazzi and long-denied rumors that he had tied up her and held her hostage \u2014\u00a0leading to a SWAT team storming his house, <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/06\/23\/entertainment\/sean-penn-denies-hitting-ex-wife-madonna-with-baseball-bat\/\">according to Penn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She drops clues that the song \u201cBizarre\u201d is about him \u2014\u00a0\u201cMovie star, deep blue eyes\/ In Hollywood, we\u2019re a perfect prize\/ He drove way too fast\/ Shelby Cobra, wasn\u2019t meant to last\u201d alludes to a sports car she was\u00a0reportedly<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mustangspecs.com\/1968-shelby-gt500-given-to-sean-penn-by-madonna-as-wedding-gift-up-for-sale\/#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> gifted Penn<\/a>\u00a0when they wed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Madonna has been dating Akeem Morris for the past two years, according to reports. <span class=\"credit\">Instagram \/ @madonna<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cShe sees Sean as the love of her life, and she is happy to put that out there,\u201d the friend said.<\/p>\n<p>For the past two years, she has been involved with soccer player and coach Akeem Morris, 30, but the friend added that neither is thinking about marriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knows Akeem might want to have kids one day, and she\u2019s ruled out adopting more, so she knows there may be a time limit,\u201d the friend said.<\/p>\n<p>These days, she is primarily based in London \u2014 where she once lived with ex-husband Guy Ritchie \u2014 and has said she will be there for a few more years at least. It means she gets to see more of Rocco, her son with Ritchie, and they, too, are getting on better than ever.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The singer has said that a custody battle over son Rocco, who refused to see her, left her contemplating suicide. <span class=\"credit\">Madonna \/ Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2015, when Rocco was 15 years old, he refused to leave his father\u2019s home in London to spend the holidays in New York City with his mother, leading to a courtroom custody battle. Last fall, Madonna revealed on Shetty\u2019s \u201cOn Purpose\u201d podcast that, during that time, \u201cI actually contemplated suicide. That probably sounds really weird coming from me because I\u2019m not emo \u2026 but I was like, \u2018I can\u2019t take this pain anymore.\u2019\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/09\/29\/celebrity-news\/madonna-reveals-she-contemplated-suicide-during-painful-custody-battle-with-ex-guy-ritchie-in-first-podcast-interview\/#\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike Lola, Rocco is independent,\u2019 says Madonna\u2019s friend of the young artist, who paints under the name Rhed. \u201cHe also used to rail at how tough Madonna was on him when he was growing up but she was trying to do her best for her children \u2014 she didn\u2019t want them to go down the Hollywood route of doing nothing and falling into drugs. And I think she did a good job.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Rocco now understands what she was trying to do.\u201d <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Madonna\u2019s family and friends would reportedly prefer she didn\u2019t embark on a big world tour to protect the 67-year-old\u2019s health after a life-or-death scare in 2023. <span class=\"credit\">GC Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Up next, Madonna is reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/06\/06\/entertainment\/madonna-teases-confessions-ii-tour-plans-but-fans-can-forget-about-a-vegas-residency\/\">making plans for a concert tour<\/a> \u2014 although friends and family, concerned about how hard she worked herself last time, which helped lead to her illness, have admitted they hope she doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Like many others who are officially what Social Security considers \u201cfull retirement age,\u201d the singer is suffering from a bad knee. The cartilage in her left leg has gone, and it has meant that she has to curb her dancing: instead, she keeps fit on a Peloton while also biking incognito in London\u2019s parks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMentally, she is totally on the ball, but she just wishes that her body would keep up,\u201d said her friend. \u201cBut she has absolutely loved the response to the album. She sees what she\u2019s done as the story of a survivor, and it\u2019s incredible how long she has survived at the top of the music business. The very top.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/07\/12\/entertainment\/what-caused-madonna-and-daughter-lourdes-tense-relationship\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At nearly 68, Madonna looks like she will elbow past Gen-Z hitmakers Olivia Rodrigo and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8534,"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-8533","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\/07\/newspress-collage-nthq333gt-1783724555503.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8533","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=8533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}