Oprah and Madonna

Photo: Kwaku Alston

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Madonna
January 2004

Oprah: When you take away the Madonna packaging and marketing, who are you at your core?

Madonna: I'm just a scruffy, tough girl from Michigan who really loves learning and is curious about life—hair back in a ponytail.

OW: But you are the Material Girl.

M: That was meant to be ironic.... There were many years when I thought fame, fortune, and public approval would bring me happiness. But one day you wake up and realize they don't.

Read the full interview from the January 2004 issue.
From the May 2015 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
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