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Madonna: I Was Raped at 19

Madonna: I Was Raped at 19

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Madonna opens up about the many obstacles she's overcome in her lifetime in a new interview with Howard Stern.

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Madonna's well-publicized interview with radio shock jock Howard Stern earlier this week is the most candid chat with the star to date. At one point, Madonna herself is taken aback by Stern's thoughtful-but-intimate questions, calling them "super personal." Still, she didn't shy away from answering them, revealing facts about herself that even longtime fans didn't know.

For more than hour, Madonna opens up about:

  • The shoe mishap that led her to throw hereself to the floor -- exposing her derriere -- during that first VMA appearance back in 1984. After her performance, she reveals, her manager told her, "Your career is over."
  • How brokenhearted she was when detractors made snarky remarks when she chose to adopt children.
  • How her "stoic" father never discussed her mother's death with her or her siblings.
  • How her Midwestern "friendliness" was a problem when she first arrived in New York City in the late 1970s. The singer reveals that, in addition to being "robbed" several times, she was also raped at 19.
  • How she craves a normal, non-famous life "every three days." But she never gives in because "I'm an artist and I'm tortured. I'm a masochist and I like to create."
  • How artist Jean-Michel Basquiat asked for his paintings back after their break-up, then proceeded to paint over all of them with black paint.
  • All those prickly appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, which weren't about disliking the host. "That's how I flirt with people," Madge explains.
  • That time she dated rapper Tupac Shakur.

Listen to the audio from the interview:

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