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American Morning
'An Intimate Biography' of Madonna
Aired July 19, 2001 - 09:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are talking about Madonna. You are going to be hearing a lot about the Material Girl. Not only is she on tour in her "Drowned World" tour. She is also the subject of a new biography that is out there. It is called "Madonna: An Intimate Biography" -- an appropriate name.
We have the author with us now author with us now: J. Randy Taraborrelli. And he is New York.
Randy, good morning. Good to have you with us.
J. RANDY TARABORRELLI, MADONNA BIOGRAPHER: Good morning. How are you?
KAGAN: I am doing OK.
This book is pretty exciting. I understand it's an unauthorized biography. And yet when you look through it, it looks like you have had access to a lot of people who are very close to Madonna.
TARABORRELLI: Well, over the course of the 10 years that I worked on this book, I did have a lot of help. I talked to her father, for instance, who gave me a perspective on his relationship with her, which had been difficult from time to time.
And I spoke to her brothers and people in New York who knew her in her early days. But I have to say that probably my greatest inspiration, where this research was concerned, had to be my own interviews with Madonna, which were conducted in the '80s, before she became so skillful at hiding her true persona from the media.
(CROSSTALK)
TARABORRELLI: I was one of the first reporters to interview Madonna -- actually, before her first album in 1983.
KAGAN: That's a good place to jump off, because I really don't envy you your job when you think about having to try to paint the picture of someone's life. I think back to "Holiday." That woman then is certainly not the Madonna today. Part of the reason she has been so famous and so successful is how much she has changed over the years, how she constantly reinvents herself.
TARABORRELLI: Well, you know, it's interesting that when I first met her back in '83, she told me that she was going to be one of the greatest stars of 20th century.
KAGAN: What did you think when she said that?
TARABORRELLI: Well, I thought: This girl is going to make some pretty big mistakes, because, as a rule, entertainment journalists are not real fond of empty bravado. And I thought she would just be one of these rock stars who would thumb her nose at the American public for a few years and then just slink away into obscurity.
But she certainly proved me wrong.
KAGAN: Yes, she did.
TARABORRELLI: Yes. Madonna has had a long and enduring career. And it's been full of many, many changes and much excitement.
KAGAN: Could you see that woman who you met in the '80s and the one who we see in these tours here as a woman who would go on to play Evita in the movie?
TARABORRELLI: Well, you know, what my book is about is the real evolution of the superstar. You really see her evolvement as a person from the self-centered, sort of egotistical young girl she was back in the '80s to the mature, spiritual and completely evolved woman that she is today.
And definitely have to say that many of her fans have been heartened by this progress that she has made in her personal life. She is happily married today to Guy Ritchie. And...
KAGAN: Well, just even that, Randy -- look at the difference: to go from Sean Penn, you know a Hollywood bad boy, to Guy Ritchie, a British director from an upstanding British family.
TARABORRELLI: Well, you know, I'll tell you something interesting: Sean and Guy have a lot in common.
KAGAN: Really?
TARABORRELLI: Yes. They both meet Madonna at her own level. They both give her a run for her money. She does not like a pushover in a man. She wants somebody who will -- who will be with her and at her side and challenge her from time to time.
And Guy certainly does this. This seems like the perfect match. It seems like he is the man that she deserves to have in her life at this time.
KAGAN: What about motherhood? How has that changed the Material Girl? She is a mother of two now.
TARABORRELLI: Well, you know, it's interesting to watch this transformation in the sense that, in 1996, when she had Lourdes, that's when Madonna really began to see herself in a new way. She finally realized that her career was not the most important thing in her life. And she completely reprioritized her world in such a way that now Lourdes was the focus -- and of course Rocco, her second child.
So she has more important concerns on her mind these days than just the next big public-relations event. But that's not to say that she still isn't one of the most intriguing and controversial entertainers of our culture today. And her concert tour, which opens this weekend in Philadelphia, is sure to...
KAGAN: Yes, what will fans see at that? What is going to be the latest evolution of Madonna?
TARABORRELLI: Well, you know, she is not promoting this tour or presenting it as a comeback tour or as a greatest hits tour. So a lot of fans have been disappointed in Europe that they're not hearing some of the hits that they've grown to love from Madonna: "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl," "Like a Prayer." Those songs are not in this show.
This show is to really promote her latest album, "Music," and her previous album, "Ray of Life." And it shows Madonna as she is today. She is no longer the Material Girl. She is no longer like a virgin. This is a different, more evolved, more mature Madonna, mother of two children, happily married.
KAGAN: And, Randy, quickly, will that evolution keep going? Will we be talking about her 10 years from now? When she is 52, will fans be flocking to see her shows across the world?
TARABORRELLI: You know, she is an entertainer in the true sense of the word, in the most basic sense of the word. She loves to entertain. And there's no doubt in my mind that she will most certainly be out there in 10 years, 20 years, doing what she does best.
KAGAN: We will have to see.
Randy Taraborrelli, thank you very much. Good luck with the book.
TARABORRELLI: Thank you so much.
KAGAN: And thanks for sharing what you learned about Madonna with us this morning.
TARABORRELLI: Thank you.
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