Madonna on Younger Men, Missing ‘Certain Things’ About Marriage

Notoriously private Madonna opened up about dating a man less than half her age in a rare interview — but not without a putting up a fight.
“Aren’t people tired of that subject?” she quipped to “Nightline” anchor Cynthia McFadden in an exclusive with ABC News.
Of course not.
It’s been three years since Madonna’s highly publicized divorce from British director Guy Richie, and the 53-year-old star has caught flack for dating younger men. Her current flame is 24-year-old French dancer Brahim Zaibat, but prior to that she dated Brazilian model Jesus Luz, now also 24.
“I didn’t choose to, you know, I didn’t, like, write down on a piece of paper I’m now going to have a relationship with a younger man,” Madonna told McFadden. “That’s just what happened. You see, that’s the romantic in me. I just met someone that I cared for, and this happened to be his age.”
But when asked what she found appealing about younger man, the Material Girl tried to shut down the line of questioning with, “I don’t feel comfortable with this conversation.”
McFadden pressed Madonna about her own experience with love, a central theme to the pop icon’s upcoming film, “W.E.,” which explores the relationship between commoner Wallis Simpson and Britain’s King Edward VIII.
Madonna revealed she wants a partner in life and that there were even “certain things” she missed about being married, such as “being a part of a family unit” and “not having to make all the decisions on my own.”
“I don’t want to live my life on my own,” she said. “I love being a mother. My children fill me up in many ways, and inspire me in many ways, but I need a partner in my life and I think most people feel that way. I’ve never really lived a conventional life, so I think it’s quite foolish for me or anyone else to start thinking that I am going to start making conventional choices.”
Putting family first, one of the most important things Madonna said she looks for in a partner is someone whom her two biological children, Lourdes, 15, and Rocco, 11, and her two adopted children, David Banda and Mercy James, both 6, will respect.
“Someone who feels a connection with my children and respects the idea that they have to be a role model as well,” Madonna said. “It’s a lot to live up to.”
As for her current relationship with Zaibat, Madonna claimed she is actually the low-maintenance “easy” one between the two of them.
“I go home and I wash my face and I put on my sweatpants and I lay down on the bed and I say, ‘oh, please rub my feet,’ and you know, he says, ‘no, you rub my feet,’” Madonna said. “So, you know, behind the curtain, I’m just like everybody else.”
Get the full story on Cynthia McFadden’s exclusive interview with Madonna on “20/20″ Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

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Madonna: Always overrated, never interesting, currently in the “Where Are They Now” file.
Posted by: JR Dobbs | January 12, 2012, 9:01 am 9:01 am
I love how people spend their time remarking on the irrelevance, talent, age, or very celebrity of Madonna when she has proven time and again that she is a force to be reckoned with. Her last world tour made $402 million, the highest grossing tour of any solo artist, and this was accomplished in just 7 months total. Now nearly 30 years into her career, people are still talking, still watching, still listening, and still adoring. Even the current success and public interest of Lady Gaga sheds a light on Madonna. Hardly is an article written of the pop star without a comparison or mention of the woman who made her career possible. Like they say, if every single female pop star is compared and likened to you, YOU are the reigning queen. Just Google News search Madonna’s name, a Twitter, blog, and general web frenzy was caused yesterday when she simply released the title of her upcoming album. Love her or hate her, this woman is a legend and she continues to gravitate people to her like no other star before or since. Madonna: iconic, ambitious, hard working, the ultimate superstar.
Posted by: Craig | January 12, 2012, 10:38 am 10:38 am
Craig’s comment says it all – and well. Love her or hate her, there is no lack of interest in Madonna. She may not be the top 40 princess she was in past decades, but the intense interest continues and her fans are loyal. Her commercial success is indisputable and, in an era where seemingly instant internet fame is more available than ever, Madonna still manages to hold her own against the legions of younger pop girls. One can’t stay commercially successful for 30 years without some – if not significant – talent. Props to Madonna!
Posted by: Allen | January 12, 2012, 11:13 am 11:13 am
The most fascinating, entertaining, amazing, stylish, intellectual, multi-faceted female artist of all time! No other female artist will EVER measure up to her. In addition to her talent and creativity, she has the brains and the personality to match it which makes her such a unique individual. The list of her accomplishments and world breaking successes could be typed up over and over and some ignorant moron will type up the usual ignorant false statement about Madonna that is completely ridiculous! You’d think that even after all these years of being the QUEEN OF POP… people would step back and give her the RESPECT that she has earned in this business! Let go of the hate and learn to love! Peace, love & happiness to you all…
Posted by: Tommy M. | January 12, 2012, 11:59 am 11:59 am
The teaser to abc’s interview shows Cynthia McFadden asking the pop queen what she thinks of Lady Gaga. Really, McFadden? Of course she loves her and finds her brave and strong and all that nonsense. I mean seriously. What I want to ask is, what does she think about marines peeing on dead bodies? Now that’s a good question for Madge.
Posted by: Ginger Rogers | January 12, 2012, 1:03 pm 1:03 pm
“Madonna claimed she is actually the low-maintenance “easy” one between the two of them.” Perhaps one of the world’s greatest problems today…when we begin to see Madonna’s lifestyle as “low-maintenance.” Ever wonder how we got over $15T in debt and have a president that spends a Trillion like you and I spend nickels (actually while you and I spend nickels)?
Posted by: Tom Tucker | January 12, 2012, 7:26 pm 7:26 pm
Who cares?
Posted by: Janelle | January 12, 2012, 7:29 pm 7:29 pm
Madonna, you’re just like everyone else? How dare you call us names?
Posted by: Banderman | January 12, 2012, 7:32 pm 7:32 pm
Most normal people wouldn’t ever feel the need to say they are just like everybody else. Just goes to show that she thinks that we think she is above all of us, when in fact, most people seem to think she is way below!
Posted by: Barbara | January 12, 2012, 8:17 pm 8:17 pm
*YAWN* I don’t even know why I just read that. I think I just killed off a number of brain cells with that absolutely vapid piece of reporting on someone who was fortunate enough to market herself better than the street walker on the corner.
Posted by: The Cat In The Hat | January 12, 2012, 9:08 pm 9:08 pm
People go to her concerts because either they are too stupid to realize she lip syncs or they are overwhelmed with flash and don’t care about musical integrity. All the dancing is silly when it renders the star “singless”.
Posted by: Lincoln Robertson | January 12, 2012, 9:08 pm 9:08 pm
When the revolution comes (any day now…) she can be my gardner.
Posted by: Spike Murdock | January 12, 2012, 9:42 pm 9:42 pm
“She’s made a lot of money so that is proof that she is smart.” I can’t believe people say such stupid things. Barry Manilow made a lot of money. So did Al Capone and Urkel. People talked about them a lot, too. Money and fame are not indicators of superiority. Oftentimes, it seems reversed, especially among pop stars. Madonna is as pop as you can get without going to nursery rhymes. Plus, she does look pretty sad still trying to play the sex kitten at her age. It’s creepy – like grandma wants to strip for you and won’t take no for an answer.
Posted by: Chris | January 12, 2012, 9:47 pm 9:47 pm
30 years in the music business, and this 2012 she will perform in the super bowl half time show, will release a new album, will show a new movie she directed, will tour worldwide, etc. etc. etc. she’s a very hardworking woman, and being that, she always gets rewarded for her efforts like anyone would. with her huge success, no wonder lots get jealous.
Posted by: tommy | January 12, 2012, 10:00 pm 10:00 pm
Everybody is not skeevy.
Posted by: Robert | January 12, 2012, 10:01 pm 10:01 pm
Yeah, and I see loads of cute young men all day long I could drag home and have a Relationship with. I sometimes reflect longingly on my past, but, I know that is no longer my reality. But neither do I have a half a billion dollars to blow. Besides, I look forward to fading in to middle age with a guy my age. Least she has dropped the fake English accent,
XXOO, Madge!
Posted by: Sara Bellum | January 12, 2012, 10:13 pm 10:13 pm
You are right Madonna. You are like the rest of us. Sgned– Xzkliu Blzirty, ghreiu City, Mars
Posted by: jopiper | January 12, 2012, 10:19 pm 10:19 pm
She is smart, business savvy and has some talents (mostly in marketing). She isn’t really known for living a “private” life. Please. Younger men, they want to associate themselves with her fame and her wealth. She’s in good shape if you the muscular type of woman. Most men don’t. She has been a role model, not a good one for young girls in most ways. Lack of morals being number one. French kissing other women on national tv isn’t my idea of a good role model.Why didn’t this reporter ask her if she regretted her books/movies about her sex life? She does seem to stay away from the drug scene, she gets a gold star for that role modeling.
Posted by: Walex | January 12, 2012, 10:37 pm 10:37 pm
Never had any talent to begin with. I’ve always tried to not pay attention to her, but the media keeps jamming her down our throats. Even years after she has produced any music (and it was never good) we keep logging on and there she is in our face. If you are a Madonna fan, then you are NOT a music fan in any sense of the word. Please go away, Madonna. And please MSM, let us be in peace. There are millions of us who don’t want to ever see her face again.
Posted by: JUSCURIOUS | January 12, 2012, 10:40 pm 10:40 pm
“So, you know, behind the curtain, I’m just like everybody else.”
No, you’re not. Trust me on this.
Posted by: OldOllie | January 12, 2012, 10:54 pm 10:54 pm
No, no, no. Most others are better than you, silly, rich woman.
Posted by: sylvia | January 12, 2012, 11:24 pm 11:24 pm
Madonna says she’s”Just like everybody else”. In other news, the Pope recently announced he is a practicing Muslim.
Posted by: TxVet | January 12, 2012, 11:42 pm 11:42 pm
To all the evil vile and mean people on here. You should be ashamed of yourself. Clearly you have not put very much effort into your lives, as Madonna has. You can’t bring her down, she will always be better than you. Always.
Posted by: tatep | January 12, 2012, 11:46 pm 11:46 pm
She’s so conceited that it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. She doesn’t seem genuine at all
Posted by: jenn | January 12, 2012, 11:48 pm 11:48 pm
You may go to the bathroom like the rest of us, but that’s where the resemblance ends. You are full on Hollywood leftist freakish sicko and gross. Nothing like the rest of us.
Posted by: Bob Jones | January 12, 2012, 11:56 pm 11:56 pm
Well, I would never thought I would be in this obviously enviable position, but I am 51, and my husband not only rubs my feet, but my neck, my back (3 herniated disks), my carpel tunnel arm/wrists after over 30 years of typing for a living, and anything else I ask him EVERY TIME and that’s after 7 years together. He would NEVER EVER disrespect me and tell me to rub his feet instead….she needs to grow up and find a man a few years older than her, a man with some real life experience, preferably having raised his own children, who has something to give from himself as he has already learned that the greatest love you can give another person is yourself, and it ain’t the sex side of giving that I am talking about….when she finds that special man, then she’ll know what I have….
Posted by: Wealthier than Madonna | January 13, 2012, 12:01 am 12:01 am
Yeah, don’t these nauseating, ultra-chic, hyper-intelligent, high-brow liberals love to ridicule and rebel against conservative tradition. Only for it to be too late in life when they realize how their poor choices really made them look like fools. I don’t feel sorry for her. By definition, liberals never emotionally mature. She made her liberal bed. Let her breed in it.
Posted by: Jontrellius Theodorius Jackson IV | January 13, 2012, 12:03 am 12:03 am
I bet she said with her faux British accent. She is rich, and liberal…no wonder ABC is fawning all over her.
Posted by: muhammedx | January 13, 2012, 12:13 am 12:13 am
Who’s Madonna?
Posted by: dump28usn | January 13, 2012, 12:14 am 12:14 am
These relationships of celebrities flirting young Men never last forever.A boy in his 20s has not even discovered what he really wants in life can never match older generations who are supposed to be called “their mothers”. A gap is just too wide. What they just follow is money & a way to become a celebrity too. After that,they will find their life partners & leave you. “Madonna with a dancer aged 24,actually 29yrs younger. Another time J.Lo seen with backup dancer aged 24″ these stories are too much to hear about. Am off.
Posted by: Peneshi | January 13, 2012, 1:41 am 1:41 am
No. No you’re not like everyone else. Everyone else doesn’t stink like a week old plate of gefilte’ fish left out in the sun, you yenta hag.
Posted by: George Kingfish Stevens | January 13, 2012, 2:42 am 2:42 am
I have been a Maddy fan forever. I found the interview less than thrilling and very reviling about her lack of substance in her “younger” relationships. I just find it CREEPY! As an true Madonna fan knows – we all knew when Guy dumped her she would and has gone off the deep end. Sad she can not keep the attention of someone barely past puberty. Her new movie will fail – her Superbowl performance will fail and her new album (mostly relying on other talent to attract attention) will fail.
Come on Maddy – get it together . . . start getting back to writing and making the music we love. BTW – your kids are needing a real role model in you. Thankfully Guy is there to guide them . . .
Posted by: steve | January 13, 2012, 3:22 am 3:22 am
Of course she’s just like the rest of us… And, why shouldn’t she be free to play the game of life?
Posted by: Mark of the wild West | January 13, 2012, 5:31 am 5:31 am
I too wish for the simple life.Comming home puttig on my sweatpants after the dog has ripped them to shreds.Someone to rub my feet and say damn thats a big foot ! Then smile at me and her being a younger woman of 60 we go to sleep.
Posted by: russ | January 13, 2012, 5:53 am 5:53 am
Madonna looks like my grandma
Posted by: Covasea Washington | January 13, 2012, 6:24 am 6:24 am
Nope, she isn’t like everyone else. She is part of the 1% the idiots of OWS are whining about.
When people begin to look at other people by the good they do, and the kindness in their hearts, then folks like Madonna, and so many others of her ilk will lose their pseudo royalty status.
Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler, etc. were giants
Clapton, The Stones, BB King, etc. are wonderful entertainers.
Madonna, doesn’t measure up to either group…sorry
Posted by: TroyG | January 13, 2012, 7:52 am 7:52 am
Madonna has apparently never met *anyone* else during her life…
Posted by: BUffmuffin | January 13, 2012, 7:54 am 7:54 am
Enough of this old wh*re, please. No one cares anymore. Trash is always trash.
Posted by: Craig | January 13, 2012, 8:06 am 8:06 am
I’ll say it, the dating someone 1/2 your age thing in these cases is obviously career networking. For the rest of us, it’s trying to be young again and the natural process of procreation, finding what is the most capable of reproduction. Women can deny it all they want. Reality is men can produce sperm forever, women turn into men (menopause) and can’t reproduce later into their years. Sugar mommas & daddys are what they are. Then you have the one that always has to be preachy and teaching someone as a mentor ? It is what it is.
Posted by: Jimbo99 | January 13, 2012, 8:16 am 8:16 am
I happen to like Madonna. I think she is very sexy. Would love to meet her. But lets be real. We all have problems of love, romance, happiness in our lives. We all have issues to deal with. However, we all do not have $300 million sitting in our bank accounts. I wish I had her problems. I am sure if I did there would be many incredibly sexy 21 year old ladies more than happy to have relationships with me.
Posted by: Mark | January 13, 2012, 8:25 am 8:25 am
So now we’re all self-absorbed sluts?
Posted by: Otis Campbell | January 13, 2012, 8:30 am 8:30 am
Holy Norma Desmond!!!!
I’m ready for my close-up Mr DeMille
Posted by: Rich Muney | January 13, 2012, 8:33 am 8:33 am
Hi! I was wondering what kind of necklace Madonna was wearing? It was very simple and pretty.
Posted by: Elizabeth | January 13, 2012, 8:52 am 8:52 am
..and then they laugh and summon the foot masseuse, and everybody’s happy. Just like everyone else!
Posted by: Gnarlex | January 13, 2012, 9:02 am 9:02 am
Jr dobbs……….There is nothing “solo artist” about her, on stage or off. That’s all I need to say.
Posted by: john l | January 13, 2012, 9:14 am 9:14 am
What a joke!
Madonna admitted on Good Morning America (1-13-2012) that she has NEVER cooked an entire meal by herself. “Oh, everybody cooks, my nanny, my housekeeper, even the drivers cook. But I have never cooked an entire mean by myself.”
THAT makes her different from EVERYBODY else.
Posted by: Farmgirl1976 | January 13, 2012, 9:16 am 9:16 am
Um no, you’re not like me. I’m not a bad example for young people.
Posted by: NewOrleansAnn | January 13, 2012, 9:20 am 9:20 am
No, Sweetheart, you are one of a kind–thank goodness! But, if telling yourself that (with your fake British accent) makes you feel better, go ahead.
Posted by: Realist | January 13, 2012, 9:27 am 9:27 am
I did enjoy her in the Movie version of Evita. However, being stuck in the 70′s, I just don’t enjoy the music she records.
Posted by: mojo | January 13, 2012, 9:28 am 9:28 am
She’s just like everyone else? Wow. She spent an entire lifetime trying to craft an image that she ISN’T just like evryone else. I guess age is creeping up on her.
Posted by: Geoff | January 13, 2012, 9:30 am 9:30 am
But would she spontaneously combust if she walked into a church? An aging self asorbed vaudevillian ho who once again has to change her stripes so she can get into the press. Money can’t buy you happiness . . . or class!
Posted by: Bill_a_bob | January 13, 2012, 10:25 am 10:25 am
this reminds me of the “it’s time to rub the bunions” commercial. next thing you know she will be slapping traffic cops since zsa zsa can’t do it anymore. maybe a gig on big brother with mc hammer and danny from the partridge family is in the works. what a trend setter.
Posted by: ooreo | January 13, 2012, 10:44 am 10:44 am
Old people trying to stay young. I appreciate a good cougar as much as the next guy though, especially a rich one. Long term though? What can she possibly expect from it? If you’re out shopping younger guys, they make stick around a bit but they’ll be shopping younger women before long. Ask Demi how Ashton worked out.
It’s like they think they’re breaking new relationship ground. They’re not. Generations see the trend come and go but the wisdom learned eventually fades and the same mistakes are made again.
You’re getting old Madonna, and you’re not doing it gracefully. You’re kicking and screaming all the way. It’s time to grow up and at least act like you’ve gotten an ounce of wisdom for your fifty years.
Posted by: TeaRunner | January 13, 2012, 10:46 am 10:46 am
If there is any justice in this world Madonna will reap what she has sewn. No single person on the face of the earth is more responsible for the moral decline in America. When the Jews that own Hollywood are done with her she too will be tossed on the dung heap of history.
Posted by: aubreyfarmer | January 13, 2012, 10:46 am 10:46 am
Sure Madonna, You’re just like the rest of Us, just much more disgusting.
Posted by: BlownfuelCoupe | January 13, 2012, 10:56 am 10:56 am
It’s not like it was my fault I “Fell in Love” with that tight bodied 22 year old.
Posted by: BlownfuelCoupe | January 13, 2012, 10:59 am 10:59 am
“I’m just like everybody else.”
Yeah, because we all demand a brand new toilet seat be installed every day when we stay somewhere during travel.” :-/
Posted by: Ricardo_Queso | January 13, 2012, 11:05 am 11:05 am
She is not like everyone else. She is one of the most useless people on the face of the earth.
She is the personification of all that is vain and superfluous in mankind. I have no use for this hag.
Posted by: Harleyxx | January 13, 2012, 11:52 am 11:52 am
If you’re like everybody else Madonna, ……could you come clean my home? I also need a babysitter. Are you available?
Posted by: Rayne | January 13, 2012, 12:33 pm 12:33 pm
Sell your soul to the devil and you too can become wealth and famous. How is that Kabbalah worship going for you. Have you started whoring out your children yet.
Posted by: aubreyfarmer | January 13, 2012, 12:56 pm 12:56 pm
This trollup has left a line of young lovers sucked dry by her gaping maw of a squish mitten longer than a Philistines Foreskin. What a skank, I bet her south mouth looks like it was punched in by Mike Tyson and her cherry pushed so far back it looks like a Stop Sign…
Posted by: Huuf Arted | January 13, 2012, 1:04 pm 1:04 pm
As evidenced by some of these posts, many hate Madonna (IMO) because she is a strong, self-made, intelligent woman who flaunts her sexuality and doesn’t CARE what anyone else thinks
I’m not a huge fan of her music/work (not really a favorite genre of mine, but some of it is amazing, and.her performances and videos were groundbreaking, I must say), but by God, she came from a working-class background, worked her butt off, always spoke her mind with no apologies, was a savvy businesswoman with a keen sense of what sells AND of the craft of performance, marketed herself into an icon, AND somehow found time and energy to mother 4 kids.
As a result, she is a “bi%^$” and a “S*&^” in the eyes of some. Some things never change (at least not in THEIR narrow, sad little worlds).
WTH should she have to explain or make excuses for being with younger men? She’s 53 and can still snag a 24 yr old? More power to her! (biologically/sexually speaking, the “older woman, younger man” scenario is typically far more ideal than its opposite, which has long been considered A-OK). No explanation or apology needed, Madonna. You are a free agent and hurting no-one.
Posted by: Raven | January 13, 2012, 1:08 pm 1:08 pm
RAYNE: “If you’re like everybody else Madonna, ……could you come clean my home? I also need a babysitter. Are you available?”
Hey, I’M like everyone else, in the sense that she meant, and *I* wouldn’t clean your house or babysit your kids. What makes you think being “available” to do YOUR menial chores/parental duties makes someone “like everybody else”? Boy, you must have a really grandious view of yourself and your place in the world relative to “everybody else”, lol.
Posted by: Raven | January 13, 2012, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
HUUF ARTED (my guess is you did)…Boy (and I mean that literally as well as figuratively) you have a lot to learn about women and life, don’t you?
The whole idea that women get “worn out” physically by having a healthy sex life (but MEN just get better by doing the same) is something only someone with no significant real-life experience would buy into. Oh, so MEN should “use it or lose it” but when WOMEN use it, they LOSE it. One of the biggest loads of misogynistic BS out there. You should be so LUCKY as to be with an older, experienced, self-confident woman like Madonna. You don’t know what you’re missing (and with your attitude, never WILL!)
Your comment was rude, disgusting, and most likely a violation of the site’s standards (but I’d rather leave it on and respond to it than report it like a whiney kid on a playground…I learned how to deal with bullies decades ago).
Posted by: Raven | January 13, 2012, 1:28 pm 1:28 pm
“Notoriously private Madonna” Huh? Are we discussing the same lady? The one who has very little singing talent and is an attention hog and for some reason the press has covered for the last 20 years? The last thing I would say she is is “notoriously private”. Harrison Ford is private. Liam Neeson is private. Madonna? Ah no.
Posted by: michael1_4 | January 13, 2012, 4:37 pm 4:37 pm
You know what’s really sad about this woman? She considers herself such a devoted mother, and yet her children must suffer to some extent from the constant gaining-then-losing of all these different men she keeps bringing into their lives.
Posted by: Celtic Grace | January 13, 2012, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm
Let the Brits fret over her …. who cares
Posted by: yeah.i.said.it | January 15, 2012, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
Very interesting and entertaining interview. I’m 15 years old and really admire people like Madonna. She has worked hard to achieve her dreams and is very talented woman. Thank you for being a great inspiration and role model for us.
Posted by: Lisa | January 17, 2012, 3:31 am 3:31 am
“Notoriously private Madonna ”
Since when? Everything else aside, she has NEVER been private. Her sex and love life have been marketed as part of her brand.
Posted by: Not telling | March 2, 2012, 11:01 pm 11:01 pm