The Empress Strikes Back

(2 of 2)
Do you worry at all that you've saved this child from physical misery...

From death. Death. He would not have lived.

OK. But do you worry that you've saved him only to introduce him to a much more abstract kind of misery? There were hordes of photographers documenting his arrival in England.

Well, my other children are exposed to that and they're not miserable. I think I have a very good life, and a good life to offer David. You know, it's like the old saying, civil rights don't mean shit if you're dead. Even if I'm the worst mother in the world, I'm still better than death! [laughs]

Is being Madonna still as fun as it used to be?

Fun? Oh, I don't know. Fun. [Several second pause] Fun's kind of an overrated word. I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do I enjoy aspects of my life? Because what being Madonna is — are you talking about my professional career?

All of it.

Well, I do get joy out of it. It's not smooth sailing by any means, but I enjoy a great deal of it, otherwise I wouldn't do it. But I also know that if you're going to try and change things — change anything really — you'd better be prepared to find yourself in the headquarters of hell. That's just how it works. But with resistance comes growth. If you go to a gym and lift weights and it's easy then your muscles aren't going to grow. Your muscles grow because you're struggling against something.

Do you enjoy the resistance as much as you used to?

Sometimes. Sometimes I do. There is a part of me that is secretly enjoying pissing people off, because I know that when you're pissing people off you're often doing the right thing. What I hope I'm doing better now than I used to do is picking the right battles to fight, and not just being provocative for the sake of being provocative.