Madonna’s daughter says her famous mum is a ‘control freak’

Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon says she became “completely independent” from her famous mum years ago, adding she’s “controlled me my whole life”.

Mama does preach.

Madonna’s eldest daughter, Lourdes Leon, has said in a new interview that the Material Girl singer is a surprisingly strict parent and runs a tight ship in her household.

“My mum is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life,” the 25-year-old told her mum’s BFF Debi Mazar for Interview Magazine.

“I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.”

Leon, who works as a model, said one of the ways she found her independence was by paying for her own college tuition and New York apartment, despite her mother’s multimillion-dollar estate.

“We don’t get any handouts in my family,” she said before recognising, “Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. There’s no denying that.

“But I think my mum saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, ‘My kids are not going to be like this.’ Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you.”

Madonna and her daughter Lourdes Leon.

Leon said she would like to one day earn a living based off other talents, and not just her model-level beauty.

“My mum is very insistent on making me think about what I want to be known for beyond my looks,” Leon said. “That’s not what I want people to remember me by. It’s not real.”

However, she noted that for now, “Financially, modelling is a smart decision. I enjoy being very hands on with the campaigns I do, so that I’m not just modelling, per se.

“I dance, I have a very specific sense of style, and I’m interested in aesthetics, so I like to incorporate all those parts of myself into my projects,” the entertainer added, contemplating her goals. “I don’t know how I feel about acting yet.”

Leon also told Mazar, who has appeared in films like Goodfellas and Little Man Tate, that one of the reasons she doesn’t see herself on the big screen is because “actors really annoy me and I can’t be around them.”

“As for music, I can sing,” she said, but admitted, “I just don’t care about it. Maybe it’s too close to home.”

Lourdes Leon at this year’s Met Gala. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Leon also told Mazar, 57, that as she’s gotten older, she’s learned to appreciate her iconic mother’s musical catalogue even more.

“I don’t cringe,” she said, noting that with age she is “increasingly able to recognise how influential and amazing this woman is, and how empowering to other women and ahead of her time she has always been.

“I didn’t fully comprehend that until I realised the importance of empowerment and what it means to be a woman. She’s probably the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. I didn’t inherit that, unfortunately. I inherited her control issues, but not her work ethic.”

Leon is Madonna’s daughter with ex-boyfriend Carlos Leon, whom the Like A Virgin singer dated from September 1994 to May 1997.

She also has a 21-year-old son, Rocco Ritchie, with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, and four adopted kids: David Banda, 16, Mercy James, 15, and twins Estere and Stelle Ciccone, 9.

This story originally appeared on NY Post and has been reproduced here with permission