Madonna Suggests Rift with Daughter Lourdes Leon

has opened up about family trauma and hinted at a rift with her eldest daughter in a new interview. 

In a wide-ranging conversation with Interview magazine, the 67-year-old admitted that her new album, Confessions II, was inspired by the deaths of her brother Christopher Ciccone and her stepmother Joan.

'I had a lot of stuff going on in my life personally. My brother was very, very, very ill, and my stepmother, with whom I’d had a very traumatic relationship throughout my entire childhood, had just died,' she told the publication.

'It’s hard for me to write a song about nothing. I have to tell a story. So I wrote about a lot of family trauma, and then we started making dance music.'

The Queen of Pop then hinted that she may have had issues with daughter Lourdes, who is featured as a co-writer on the record. 

'The song I wrote with my daughter, Lola. She approached me about writing a song together as a way to heal our relationship. It was a really important moment, and it solidified the idea that now is the time to make this record,' she said cryptically. 

'Well, all these symbolic things happened. My step-mother died, my brother was ill, my brother died, my daughter approached me… you know what I mean?' she continued, before explaining that she used the new album to get these topics 'off her chest'.

While Madonna and Lourdes, 29, are close and often collaborate together, the pair have

In 2021, Lourdes called her mother a 'control freak' and admitted that she paid for her own college tuition and first apartment to escape her. 

'We don’t get any handouts in my family. Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. There’s no denying that,' she explained to Interview magazine.

'But I think my mom 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. My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.'

In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Madonna praised her 'insanely talented' eldest child but said that she lacked the same drive that had made her a household name.

Since branching out on her own, Lourdes has found work as a model, a celebrity socialite, and as an indie musician.

Madonna also admitted that her new album, Confessions II, was inspired by 'family trauma', including the death of her brother Christopher. (Pictured 1995)