Madonna is only 56. She is in the prime of her life, she has power, talent, experience and wisdom, in addition to her natural intelligence and rigour. She is about to release her 13th album – one of her best yet. The things she is ordered to do – age gracefully, put it away, retire, crawl away and die – have behind them a desire to shame, permanently destroy and negate this woman who dares to be vocal and visible, physical and political.
In order to withstand this, one would have to be superhuman. Luckily, Madonna is.
But why should anyone have to swallow the world’s unstinting hatred when she wants to be remembered for her brilliant artistry?
