‘Horrible’: Madonna shares infamous Aussie interview

Seems like 30 years on, Madonna still hasn’t forgotten this infamous interview with late 60 Minutes Australia reporter Richard Carleton.

It’s 30 years this week since Madonna released her groundbreaking Erotica album and accompanying explicit coffee table book, SEX.

And the Queen of Pop is celebrating the anniversary by looking back at the trail she blazed for other pop stars – while also reminding people of the massive backlash she copped.

One interview that best demonstrated the negative reaction came via late Aussie journalist Richard Carleton, who sat down with Madonna for 60 Minutes Australia in 1992 to discuss her latest raunchy career ventures.

Madonna shared a portion of the interview on her Instagram stories today – and it shows a flustered Carleton telling the star he found the images in the SEX book “horrible.”

The hardback book featured Madonna photographed in an array of sexual scenarios, with full frontal nudity and appearances by the likes of actress Isabella Rossellini, model Naomi Campbell, and gay porn star Joey Stefano.

Carleton said he’d never seen anything like it …

… Madonna didn’t buy it.

“I got a fright. I’d never seen the likes of it,” Carleton told her.

“You have so. Oh, please. You’ve never read Playboy magazine or Penthouse?” she asked him.

“Yes, but it was different with you. The picture of you astride the mirror, masturbating? I thought that was horrible. It just strikes me as horrible,” he continued.

Madonna arched a pencil-thin brow as she then turned the tables on her interviewer.

“I think people’s reactions to specific situations in the book is much more a reflection of that person than me,” she began.

“I mean, you were scared by that picture – what does that mean? Are you frightened of a woman who can turn herself on? Are you frightened of a woman who is not afraid to look at her genitals in the mirror?”

Just about the only photo from the SEX book we can show you is its cover. Picture: Warner Books / Madonna

Madonna circa 1992.

“A little bit, yes. That’s right. I don’t know why,” Carleton told her. “But I’m here to talk about you, not me.”
“Oh, OK … I’d rather talk about you,” Madonna said with a laugh.

Also on her Instagram stories today, Madonna reflected on the lengthy backlash she copped from the release of the book – something she eventually fully escaped when she pivoted to starring in the Evita movie musical in 1996, then released the acclaimed career-high album Ray of Light two years later.

Madonna reflects on the SEX book.

Madonna closed out the statement by telling them: “You’re welcome bitches …”

While SEX ushered in perhaps the biggest public backlash of Madonna’s career, it was also a huge commercial success. The book – sealed in foil, so those eager to see the explicit content inside would have to purchase it – sold more than 150,000 copies in its first day on sale in the US. Within days, it went on to sell millions of copies around the world and it remains the fastest-selling coffee table book of all time.

Madonna refused to republish it from that initial print run, making it now one of the most in-demand out-of-print books of all time, with tightly-held copies now sold changing hands for hundreds of dollars.