Smash Hit Facts About Madonna

August 16, 2017 | Shannon Quinn

Smash Hit Facts About Madonna


“I hope that I inspire women to believe in themselves, no matter where they come from; no matter what education they have; what particular background they originate from.” - Madonna

Here are 45 smash hit facts about Madonna!


Madonna Facts

1. A Rose by Any Other Name...

Madonna’s real name is Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. She also has adopted the Hebrew name Esther.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

2. Old Stomping Grounds

Growing up in Northern Michigan, Madonna explained that she studied very hard, because she wanted to get out of her town and be somebody.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

3. Smarty Pants

It was widely reported that Madonna had a 140 IQ and was a member of Mensa. This was reported around the same time that other celebrity IQs were making headlines, supposedly having been revealed in Mensa's "Celebrity IQ List." Mensa later denied releasing this list, stating that they would never release individual IQs.

Madonna is still pretty darn smart though: she got straight A’s the entire time she was in school.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

4. Go, Team!

Madonna described herself as being quiet and nerdy in High School, but she was still a cheerleader. She later wore a vintage cheerleader outfit during one of her concerts.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

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5. Makeout Point

Madonna apparently lost her virginity with her boyfriend in the back of a Cadillac. This was revealed by her brother Christopher Ciccone in his autobiographical book, Life With My Sister Madonna.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

6. Go For the Gold

Madonna attended the University of Michigan on a scholarship for dance, but dropped out to pursue her music career in New York City. She only had $35 to her name.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

7. Sugar Rush

When she arrived in New York, Madonna needed to find whatever job she could get to survive. One of the first places she worked was Dunkin Donuts.

Nicest things strangers have done factsShutterstock

8. She’s Got the Moves

When she first arrived in New York, Madonna was trying to be a dancer. When she wasn’t working, she was training at the Alvin Alley American Dance Theater, and performed in modern dance groups.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

9. Gigs Pay Off

In 1980, she had been living in New York for three years, and decided to start a band with her boyfriend in attempts to earn some more money. People loved her voice, and when someone from Sire Records heard her while performing a gig, she got her first record deal.

Madonna FactsWikipedia

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10. Unhappy Christians

In her “Like a Prayer” music video, Madonna is in a Catholic church, but there are some strange things going on...Including seducing the statue of a saint to come to life and make out with her, and dancing in front of a field of burning crosses. This caused such a huge controversy that Pepsi Cola had to cancel airing the commercial that they shot with her, because they were afraid it would hurt their brand image. She got to keep the $5 million they paid her for the work.

Madonna FactsWikipedia

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11. The IT Girl

Madonna is known for her unique style, which so many girls were copying in the 1980’s. The “look” came from a fashion designer named Maripol, who was her stylist.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

12. The Smoky Air

In 1985, Madonna was in her first movie. It was a small role in “Vision Quest” as a nightclub singer. She sang the song “Crazy for You”.

Madonna FactsVision Quest, Warner Bros.

13. No Thanks

In 1990, she was nominated to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but she turned it down.

Nichelle Nichols factsShutterstock

14. Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina

One of her biggest acting roles was as Eva Peron in the movie Evita in 1996. She won the Golden Globe as Best Actress for her performance.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

15. Triple Threat

Clearly, she was great at singing and dancing, but she also credits as an actress in over 100 movies and TV shows.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

16. For the Right Price

She married Sean Penn in 1985. They got a divorce four years later, but they remained friends. Madonna joked during a 2016 charity event that she would remarry him if he donated $150,000 to the cause.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

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17. Cool Dude

While they were married, Madonna wrote the song “True Blue” for Sean Penn. Nearly three decades after their tumultuous divorce in 1987, Madonna performed the song at a Rebel Heart concert (2015). Sean Penn was photographed smiling in the front row.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

18. Soundtracks

Her music has been included in the soundtracks of over 400 movies. One of her most famous ones: she wrote and recorded "Die Another Day" for the James Bond movie of the same name.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

19. Filmmaker

In 2008, Madonna wrote and directed a movie called “Filth and Wisdom” about a group of friends living in London. Although the film only received a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Times Online noted that "Madonna has done herself proud."

Madonna FactsGetty Images

20. I’ll Drink to That

Her father, Tony Ciccone, has his own winery called the Ciccone Vineyard & Winery in Suttons Bay, Michigan. They sell the typical red, white, and rose, but her father also created a line of MADONNA wine in her honor.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

21. Ice, Ice, Baby

In 1998, Madonna dated Vanilla Ice. Apparently, she would get very jealous, and call him in the middle of the night, demanding to know if he was cheating on her. The relationship only lasted 8 months.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

22. Colors

Madonna’s makeup and costumes are usually very colorful, but she absolutely hates the color orange.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

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23. For the Kids

On top all of all of her other amazing talents, Madonna is also the author of 10 children’s books. Perhaps her most popular is titled "Friends For Life!" Madonna, I wish we could be friends for life.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

24. Symmetry

Madonna is beautiful on an entirely different level. Her face has been used by plastic surgeons as the example of having “perfect” features. She was just lucky enough to be born with it.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

25. Potty Mouth

In 1994, Madonna appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, and she said the “f” word 13 times while they were on live TV. It goes down in history as the most censor bleeps in the single episode of the show.

Madonna FactsLate Night with David Letterman, NBC

26. Not for Everyone

While she has always been applauded for her sense of style, she was voted as “Worst Dressed” in an issue of People Magazine in 1999.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

27. Mini Me

Madonna had a relationship with her fitness instructor, Carlos Leon, and they had a daughter named Lourdes together. Reflecting on their relationship, Carlos said, “I’m forever grateful to [Madonna]. I have no regrets. I wouldn’t change anything. I got the best thing out of that relationship, and that’s my daughter. My daughter is everything to me.”

Madonna FactsGetty Images

28. Virgin Mary

Madonna named her daughter “Lourdes” after the city in France, because it is supposed to be somewhere that the Virgin Mary appeared. Her mother was deeply religious, and wanted to visit Lourdes very badly. She obviously also named Madonna after the Virgin Mary, too.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

29. Faith

Despite having a very Catholic upbringing, Madonna actually prescribes to a form of Judaism called Kabbalah. However, she has also stated that she identifies as an Israelite, not Jewish. She also stated that "I would say I do a lot of things that people did before Judaism existed. And I believe what I practice has to do with something deeper than religion, that it embodies all religions, including Judaism. And Christianity. And Islam."

Madonna FactsGetty Images

30. Strike a Pose

Her song “Vogue” was an extra song that was thrown together last minute, and it was never meant to be a single. However, it became one of her most iconic songs.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

31. Taking Advantage

For years, the domain name Madonna.com was used by a porn company. In 2000, Madonna had to take them to court to get the domain name back.

Madonna FactsShutterstock

32. Friends, Not Food

Madonna has been a vegetarian since she was 15.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

33. Lucky Lady

According to Forbes, her net worth is $500 million.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

34. Neat Freak

Madonna described herself as having OCD, saying that she needs things done a certain way. Before her concert at the Palais Nakaia in Nice (2008), she had all of the commodes, showers and sinks removed, scrubbed down, and then reinstalled.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

35. 300 Million

She officially has the record of being the most successful female artist of all time. The Guinness World Records recognized her as the fourth best-selling act of all time, currently right behind The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Michael "The King of Pop" Jackson.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

36. Trapped

In 2000, she married the film director Guy Ritchie. They got a divorce in 2008. During interviews, she compared their marriage to being in jail.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

37. The Godfather

Guy and Madonna had one child together, a son named Rocco. They asked Sting to be the godfather.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

38. Acapella

Madonna gave the go-ahead for the TV show Glee to cover any of her songs.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

39. Top 20 Radio

Madonna holds the world record for having the most #1 spots in the Billboard Top 100--She did it a total of 156 times.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

40. Winning

She won 5 Grammy Awards, out of her total 18 nominations.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

41. The Musical Gene

Madonna and Celine Dion are distantly related on their French-Canadian side of the family. Maybe singing is in their DNA.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

42. Adoptions

Madonna has adopted a total of 4 children from Malawi, a country in south-east Africa. Their names are David, Mercy, Stelle, and Estere.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

43. Charity

Madonna donates a lot of her money to a charity organization she created called Raising Malawi, which specifically caters to helping orphans in the country.  Part of that money is even going to building a pediatric hospital, which is named after her daughter Mercy.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

44. History

In 2008, when Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she was introduced by Justin Timberlake, who had collaborated on her album Hard Candy.

Justin kicked off the intro with the story of what working with Madonna was like. He explained that one day he came into the studio feeling ill, and Madonna suggested he get a shot of B12. When she agreed, Madonna didn't call a doctor.

Instead, she pulled out a Zip-Loc bag of B12 syringes from her designer bag and said, “Drop ’em.” As she gave Justin the shot, she commented, "Nice top shelf."

Justin described the experience, saying that it was "one of the greatest days of my life.”

Madonna FactsGetty Images

45.Masked

In every music video, Madonna takes on a different personality and persona.

Madonna FactsGetty Images

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

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