Six minutes with the most famous icon in the world

Published on Tuesday 20 May 2003 01:00

MEETING Madonna is a strange experience. She is now so far beyond fame and notoriety that it’s hard to know what to expect.

Will she be the material girl I grew up with? Will she be the cool cowgirl of more recent years, or will she just be plain old Mrs Ritchie?

Plain and old are, of course, two words never to be associated with the most famous woman on the planet. Which, let’s face it, is what she is. Kylie maybe hitting the headlines and Britney may grab a share of the limelight but there’s no getting away from the fact that Madonna is top of the music showbiz tree.

And at 44 she’s far from being plain and old. She’s had her blonde locks dyed brunette recently and is in terrific shape as her latest film, Swept Away, more than proved, thanks to those beach scenes.

So, as I’m picked up from Heathrow in a black people carrier with blacked-out windows and taken to the Dorchester Hotel in London, I feel more than just a little panic fluttering inside.

It’s probably worse than being told you have to interview the Queen.

So many people have told me how she can be aloof, rude, and not a little snappish. But then I do have a secret weapon with which I hope to disarm her if that proves to be the case.

On arrival at the Dorchester, I’m shown into one suite where I wait, anxiety increasing, for an hour. Then two men, who could only be described as minders given the burliness of their physiques, take me to a lift and up two floors.

I’m shown into another suite and this time have to wait an hour and a half. Frantically I write and rewrite my questions to try to sound more intelligent - after all she’s been known not to answer queries she thinks are phrased stupidly. Additionally I’ve been told no questions about her Sex book or her “erotica”phase, no questions about Swept Away or her acting career, and only at a push can I ask questions about her children.

Talk about pressure. Then as the clock strikes 6.30pm, I hear the words: “Is Vicky ready?”in an American accent and I know I’m up.

Shown into a third suite - each one progressively more luxurious - I clap eyes on this icon of our time in the flesh.

And is she small. Obviously fit to the nth degree, she looks healthy and alert, her new brown hair, curled into a 50s style, while she’s dressed from head to foot in black, parachute silk jacket, cropped trousers and trainers so trendy I have no idea which future season they belong to.

But no-one should be fooled by her size. She may be petite but there’s an alert intelligence about her even when she smiles, which makes you feel she’s sized you up and pigeon-holed you before you can even say hello. Madonna is a force of nature.

Sitting opposite her on another couch, I’m told that the interview has been cut to six minutes. No time for chit-chat then, or those long-winded intellectual questions I had painstaking written out.

So, then, let’s break the ice. “You got married in Scotland - what were your first impressions of the place?”

“I was amazed at how beautiful it was,”she says in a voice which is so familiar. “I mean, it was my husband’s idea to get married up there. But I said: ‘Don’t you think you should take me there first?’ So we went up there and I just thought it was gorgeous, wild and there is a lot of rough, natural beauty.

“So we went up there a couple of times before the wedding, around the area that we were married in. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

She’s obviously animated about the Highlands, yet there’s no over-enthusiasm. Instead she seems collected and calm - but then she’s answered all the questions that could be asked of her, time and again.

Time then for the secret weapon. “I wanted to bring you something from Scotland, but thought what do I get Madonna?”I say. “Don’t be too excited, but this is something the rest of the world tend to think is a cliche of Scotland. It’s a wee hat for you. Do with it as you wish. It’s called a ‘See You Jimmy’ hat.”

I wait for the reaction. She looks rather stunned as I hand the hat over. “A See You Jimmy?”she asks. Then “Is that hair?”

“Yes, it’s ginger hair, so you will look traditionally Celtic. It’s awful isn’t it?”I laugh, before showing her how it also plays Scotland the Brave.

Suddenly she bursts into laughter - the famous gap between the teeth revealed briefly. “That’s beautiful. Guy will appreciate it. I will keep it for Father’s Day.”

Unfortunately, she doesn’t put it on, rather she places it by her side. Of course, the big question at the moment, though, is will Madonna be making a return trip to Scotland later this year? Will the woman whose career was made partly thanks to the invention of MTV, come to Edinburgh to celebrate the European channel’s tenth awards ceremony?

It seems not. “I think I am going to be in America because I think my husband is making a movie at that time,”she says. I say her Scottish fans will be very disappointed. “Yes, I know,”she says apologetically. “But my husband will be more disappointed if I left him.”

It has been said that since her marriage to Guy Ritchie, Madonna has put her career on the back burner to help him with his. However, with a new album just out - which went straight to the top of the charts - it’s hard to see her taking a backseat.

American Life, though, is unlike her previous work. It is more mellow and is very personal and reflective. Would she say the British weather finally go t to her? She laughs again “More like the British man got to me! But my inspiration for this was just . . . life. What I have been through the past few years, the evolution I have gone through, in my mind spiritually and emotionally, the growth that has occurred between my husband and I in our relationship, understanding your responsibilities and raising children, seeing my place in the world more objectively, all those things inspired what I have to say.

“The inspiration I’m given and the drive that I have are gifts. I am just channelling energy and . . . I don’t know, to tell you the truth, where it comes from.”

So would she say she had a favourite period either musically or image-wise in the last 20 years? “I am fond of all of them because they are all a part of me,”she says. “I couldn’t say I like one period better than the next but I can tell you I am now happier than I have ever been and I wouldn’t trade what I know now and who I am now for any other versions of me.”

It is, of course, her ability to reinvent herself that’s kept Madonna at the top for so long, so what does she make of the “instant”pop stars who are created through society’s current obsession with reality television?

She says: “I think these shows are more created for a kind of instant thrill for the audience than the development of an artist. It’s about pop culture, something quick and instant. I doubt that I would have considered doing one of these shows though if I was just starting out. For the people that win these shows David Sneddon and Darius I would tell then to give it all away and start again.”

She laughs: “Run - head for the hills. I dunno. It’s a very strange way to start in the business, I mean, at the end of the day all those things, cars and houses and all that, is not going to guarantee you inspiration or longevity as an artist. Those things come from somewhere deep inside of you that has nothing to do with material stuff.”

Obviously she’s no longer a material girl - but then she does have almost everything anyone would wish for. A great career and a happy family. What then is left for Madonna? She’s sang, acted, is writing children’s books and is about to film a documentary on Kabbalah, a Jewish religion she follows.

She says: “I am not done with the children’s books yet. I am finished writing them but the editing, the illustrations, all of that is incredibly time consuming. I had no idea. I am just finishing one of them, even though I have written all five of them. It has taken me months and months to get it just right so I will be doing a lot of that.

“I also have videos to make for my record and developing the documentary is high in my list of priorities. There is just so much to do I can’t even begin to tell you.”

As if an alarm has rung my six minutes are up. I tell her I hope that although she won’t be at the MTV awards, that she performs in Scotland soon. “Look for me in my fancy red hat,”she laughs. “Thanks for that - it’s very funny.”

Vicky Pitchers is a breakfast show DJ with Forth One