Book summary

Andrew Morton's biography of one of the late 20th century's most popular and controversial female pop stars mines the reminiscences and revelatory anecdotes of the extensive range of friends and acquaintances Madonna has built up over three decades of dogged pursuit of fame and fortune. The road from a Bay City, Michigan, childhood to having one's bra auctioned for $20,000 at Sotheby's a couple of decades later is long and fraught with rumors of sex, drugs, vaulting ambition, and many other scandals, all of which are minutely examined by Morton, whose biography credits include those of Princess Diana and Monica Lewinsky. Madonna's chief vice turns out to be an overwhelming hunger for success; she's preternaturally skilled at manipulation, both of her own talents and of those around her. Her relationships with men and women alike are explored, including her notorious liaison with comedian Sandra Bernhard and her stormy marriage to Sean Penn, as well as her short-lived affair with Warren Beatty and her second marriage to British film director Guy Ritchie. Featuring many rare early photographs of the embryonic superstar, MADONNA is a detailed and penetrating look behind the public persona of a fascinating, constantly self-reinventing woman.