all about Madonna

Thanks to David

Madonna and Sharon Stone speak during the amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS 2008 benefit in Mougins / Madonna auctions off a bag (May 22 2008)

Madonna and Sharon Stone have attended a star-studded event in Cannes to raise funds for Aids research.
Stone wore a full-length leopard print dress while Madonna, who arrived with husband Guy Ritchie, opted for an understated pink coloured dress.

The fading light was peppered with flashes from scores of photographers shouting and crowding towards the two women, with Madonna arriving later than Stone.

Earlier, Madonna gave a press conference on her documentary I Am Because We Are, raising awareness about children orphaned by Aids in Malawi.

The women were joining AmfAR, the foundation for Aids research.

Others on the guest list were Dennis Hopper, rapper P Diddy, Christian Slater, Tamara Mellon and Natalie Portman.

AmfAR chairman Kenneth Cole and actress Rose McGowan, who sported a black cast on one foot, underneath her dress, also attended.

Dita Von Teese arrived in a military-influenced purple dress with a plunging neckline.

Sir Cliff Richard and Joely Richardson boosted the British presence at the event.

source : pa

Madonna arrives with Guy at amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS 2008 event in Mougins (May 22 2008)

Madonna arrives at amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS 2008 event in Mougins (May 22 2008)

Madonna leaving the Majestic hotel after a press conference in Cannes (May 22 2008)

This story ends with me standing beside Madonna on the balcony of the famed Carlton Hotel in Cannes, well after 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, talking about how glad we were not to be part of the hordes below swirling in the pool of the film festival. The lights of the yachts twinkled as they bobbed up and down in the harbor; the limos crawled down the Croissette, the main boulevard in this Riviera hot spot.

Women in evening gowns and jewels wobbled on impossibly high heels as they leaned on the arms of men in tuxedos.

And there we stood, high above on the balcony of her suite, talking not about movie stars or gossip or fashion or music or even world events. Madonna and I were taking about kids: whether she gives her kids an allowance (she does not); whether they are allowed to watch television (they are not); and the chores they have to do to earn spending money (plenty).

In this town known for outrageous expressions of glut and glamour, a woman who has had her share of both stood there silently taking it all in. “You could have one of those yachts, if you wanted,” I finally said. “And all the richy-richy stuff.” “It doesn’t look good on me,” she said reflectively.

What’s happened to the Material Girl? She says she enjoys fine things, expensive things and quickly points out she lives very well indeed (she had arrived earlier from her home in London by private jet with various members of her staff), but she says the accumulation of things has become less interesting to her.

It was a mellow end to a wild two hours together. We talked about men, in general; her husband, in particular. Her music. How she sometimes frightens herself. What she thinks about turning 50-years-old this summer…and why she is adopting a baby. (She says she hopes the adoption will be finalized this week.)

She says, with surprise in her voice, several times as we talk, that she doesn’t quite know what has gotten into her. She is saying things she has never said publicly before. Like how Pharrell Williams had hurt her feelings and made her cry while they were working on her new album. Like how her husband was slow to warm up to the idea of adopting. She tells me how she gave her gardener a chance to direct her documentary because everyone has to have a first chance. Hadn’t she been the girl squeezing the filling in the Dunkin’ Donuts?

Maybe it was the soft breezes in the south of France. Whatever the lucky reason, it is a rare, intimate, funny and unplugged Madonna, unlike the woman who usually approaches interviews like most of us do a root canal: necessary perhaps, but painful. But not this time. Not here in Cannes where she has come to debut that new documentary “I am Because We Are” about the small African country of Malawi.

Madonna, of course, is not the only superstar on the premises. The general vicinity is crawling with them. I had bumped into Angelina Jolie earlier in the day at breakfast (a sentence, I must say, I never thought I would write). And as proof that I could never cut it as a pappazzi, my producer, Roxanna Sherwood, and I STOP shooting and put away our cameras when we stumble on Brad Pitt and one of his children in a garden.

Even the cars have pedigrees here. We are picked up by a delightful man, Jean Luc, who tells me one hour earlier George Lucas had sat where I was now sitting.

This kind of whop-de-do has been going on for the past 68 years, ever since the film festival first came to town. The Festival attracts the talented, the famous, the rich and people who would like to be any of the above. Seven thousand journalists also crowd into town. And so this year, I was one of them.

Like so many stories, starting at the beginning is not as easy as it might sound. The beginning of our trip to Cannes to interview Madonna actually began a week ago with a “no.”

Liz Rosenberg, who has been Madonna’s press agent since she first exploded into the public eye in 1983, called. “Cynthia, wanna go to Cannes and talk to Madonna about her new documentary, the new album and anything else that tickles your fancy?”

A little background: I had interviewed Madonna twice before, once in 2004 in Los Angles and once in 2005 at her home in New York. Both times for ABC News Magazines, first “Primetime” and then “20/20.”

“Of course, I want to talk to her,” I told Liz. “But let me check.” “Checking” means talking to “Nightline” executive producer, James Goldston. James, who knows a good thing when he hears it, said “absolutely” before I’d even finished my question.

Now comes the “no” part. I called Liz back. “James says yes, when does she want to do it?” “Thursday.” “Next Thursday?,” I winced. “Next Thursday I’m giving the commencement address at Columbia Law School in New York.” “Wednesday then,” says Liz.

Still no good. I couldn’t get a flight back in time. And besides Wednesday night I had to be in New York to host a benefit for a charity I really care about, Children for Children. On top of which, ABC News president David Westin and his wife Sherrie were being honored at the event. Wednesday was out too. It was starting to look as if someone else was going to get to talk to Madonna in Cannes. I called Liz back. “Can’t do it.”

Stunned silence.

As you might imagine, it is isn’t too often people turn down a Madonna interview. Not when it is the only one she’s giving to an American network. Not when her new album has just debuted at number one in 27 countries. Listen, not anytime. She’s Madonna. She makes news.

Liz sighed. “Let me see what I can do.”

What she did was to get Madonna to come on Tuesday, so Roxanna and I arrived on Monday morning. I am writing this as I fly back to New York City on Wednesday. I will go to the benefit; give the commencement speech and put the Madonna interview on this Thursday night on “Nightline.”

As an old boss of mine used to say, “Sleep is for sissies.” I hope you’ll watch.

source : abc

Madonna said Thursday her efforts to adopt a child in Malawi and the ridicule she faced in the press had been as difficult as childbirth, but she was confident of soon winning permanent custody.

The 49-year-old pop star, who was in Cannes with a documentary she produced and wrote about AIDS orphans in the southeast African nation, said she had been bewildered by the criticism and suspicion she faced.

“It was painful and it was a big struggle and I didn’t understand it but in the end, I rationalised that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount,” she told reporters.

“So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains with dealing with the press on my front doorstep accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it. I had to go through some kind of process and in the end it made me stronger so I can’t complain.”

A court in Malawi is expected to rule this week on whether Madonna and her British filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie can permanently adopt three-year-old David after an interim custody order was granted 18 months ago.

David was placed in an orphanage after his mother died during childbirth.

Madonna said Thursday that the woman had died of AIDS and that David’s biological father, who is still alive, had dropped his initial objections and formally approved of the adoption so his son could avoid a life of poverty.

More than half of Malawi’s population lives on less than a dollar a day and the country is one of the world’s worst affected by AIDS with about 14 percent of its 12 million people infected with HIV, the virus that causes the disease.

Madonna meanwhile is the world’s highest paid female singer. Having given birth to a daughter, Lourdes, and a son, Rocco, she was won over by tiny David on a visit to an AIDS orphanage in October 2006.

But critics have accused her of using her vast wealth to fast-track the adoption process, a charge she has vigorously denied.

And although widely praised for her charity work in Malawi, the adoption case also triggered a storm of protest there.

Madonna said the absence of laws in Malawi allowing for international adoptions meant hers became a test case.

“I’m happy to be the guinea pig,” she said.

Madonna’s film, “I Am Because We Are” tells the wrenching story of a generation of children left to fend for themselves after AIDS robs them of their parents.

It includes interviews with high-profile activists including former US president Bill Clinton and South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, spliced between images of grinding poverty, ailing AIDS patients and the terror experienced by children suddenly left alone.

Its optimistic ending focuses on charity groups working to ensure medical care, education and guidance for the children and ways viewers can help.

The picture was directed by Nathan Rissman, an amateur filmmaker who had previously worked for Madonna and Ritchie as a gardener and babysitter.

Despite Rissman’s lack of experience, the film has won critical praise for its searing images and tightly edited interviews and has been sold in several territories.

“I’m hoping the whole world sees it,” said Madonna, who premiered her first feature film, a comedy set in London, to mixed reviews in Berlin in February.

Madonna said the death of her own mother when she was only six had been a factor in leading her to tell the story of the more than one million AIDS orphans in Malawi.

The film’s title comes from an African adage about individuals’ connection to their communities and the world.

It is showing on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival, which wraps up Sunday.

source : afp