Madonna may be known for her decades-long, record-breaking pop career, but at her core, she’s first and foremost a mum.
The Hung Up singer is mum to six kids: Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy, and twins Stella and Estere. She honoured her brood in 2020 with her first ever tattoo: each of their initials on her wrist.
Four of her six kids are adopted. “Sometimes I would just close my eyes and just think, ‘Why isn’t my kitchen filled with dancing children?’,” she told People. “There’s so many children that need a home. I thought, ‘What am I waiting for? Just do it.'”
Let’s take a look at what Madonna’s six kids are up to now.
Lourdes
Madonna welcomed her first child, Lourdes Maria “Lola” Ciccone Leon, on October 14, 1996. At the time, the pop star was dating personal trainer Carlos Leon, but they split up when their daughter was one.
Madonna penned a song for her firstborn titled Little Star, that featured on her 1998 album Ray of Light.
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She grew up in New York City with her mum, and went to the same high school at Timotheé Chalamet, who she cites as her first boyfriend.
Lourdes has made a name for herself as a fashion model, dancer, and singer. Her first modelling gig was in perfume ad campaign Stella McCartney which also featured Grimes and Amandla Stenberg.
She’s also modelled for Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty line, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, Swarovski and Mugler, and has been featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair. The young star has made it very clear that she wants to be known to the world as “Lourdes Leon,” not “Madonna’s daughter”.
In fact, Madonna herself was adamant that Lourdes pay her own way in the world. ”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’,” Lourdes told Debi Mazar in an interview.
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The young star paid her own way through college, using money that she’d made from the Material Girl clothing line she and Madonna founded when Lourdes was a teen. “I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you,” she told Interview.
“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.”
But growing up, Lourdes says she has since come to admire “how empowering to other women and ahead of her time she has always been.”
In August 2022, Lourdes began releasing music under the stage name Lolahol. Her debut single was titled “Lock&Key”.
But don’t expect her to follow in her mother’s footsteps as an actor: “Honestly, actors really annoy me and I can’t be around them,” she admitted.
Rocco
In 1998, Madonna began dating film director Guy Ritchie. On August 11, 2000, they welcomed their son Rocco John Ritchie into the world. He was christened in Scotland in December, and the happy couple tied the knot the following day.
“She’s a good mother… She’s very strict but in a good way,” Rocco told Ellen DeGeneres of his mum in 2012.
In his teen years, after Madonna and Guy Ritchie had split, Rocco spent his time with his mum, touring the world and completing his school work with a tutor. He actually appeared on-stage as a backup dancer in her MDNA world tour in 2012 and came along for the 2015 Rebel Heart tour.
That year, after a tour stop in the UK, Rocco decided he wanted to stay there, live with his dad, and go to a traditional school.
This didn’t go down well with Madonna –– the exes were locked in a months-long custody battle. Eventually, she dropped the matter and resolved to settle it with Ritchie privately.
Despite the rocky history, Madonna and her son remain on pretty good terms.
“We have been on many trips together around the world, but the greatest journey I have taken with you is the one inside my ♥️,” Madonna wrote for Rocco’s 21st birthday. “Love you to the moon and back. Forever and always.”
Rocco appeared in the video clip for his mum’s Bitch I’m Madonna music video, also posing with her for a spread in Love magazine
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc0y7EXqJHd/?hl=en
Now in his 20s, Rocco seems to be in favour of a life outside the spotlight. He’s only ever given one interview – with Ellen in 2012 – and keeps a low profile on social media.
Rocco primarily works now as an artist under the pseudonym Rhed, and co-founded his own gallery, Maison Rhed, with two friends.
David
In 2006, Madonna founded a charitable organisation Raising Malawi, and took a humanitarian trip to the country. While there, she and her then-husband Richie decided to adopt a child from an orphanage.
They met one-year-old David Banda, who was suffering from pneumonia and malaria. His mother passed away and his father couldn’t care for him.
The pair faced legal issues with this choice – local laws in Malawi state that adoptive parents must live in the country for 18 months before the adoption can be finalised.
“Every newspaper said I kidnapped him,” Madonna said in a People report at the time. “In my mind, I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute. I’m trying to save somebody’s life. Why are you all s***ing on me right now?’ I did everything by the book. That was a real low point for me. I would cry myself to sleep.
The adoption was finally settled in May 2008.
David was raised in the UK and NYC, and, now a teenager, makes headlines for his bold fashion choices. In 2022, he was photographed wearing a recreation of an original Adidas x Gucci dress that Madonna wore in the ’90s.
Madonna told British Vogue in 2019 that she feels a special connection with David. “He’s the one I have the most in common with,” she said. “I feel like he gets me; he has more of my DNA than any of my children so far.”
Mercy
Chifundo “Mercy” James was born in Malawi in 2006.
A year after settling her divorce from Guy Ritchie in 2008, Madonna applied to adopt Mercy from a Malawi orphanage as a single mother.
The petition was initially rejected, but a month later, the High Court approved the adoption.
In 2017, in honour of her daughter, Madonna opened the first ever hospital for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care in Malawi, calling it the Mercy James Institute.
Madonna celebrated her daughter’s 16 birthday in 2022 with a sweet Instagram dedication: “The kindest, most thoughtful, most magical girl on the planet! There is no one like you!”
Stella and Estere
Twin girls Stella and Estere were born on August 24, 2012, in Malawi. Madonna adopted them both in 2017 when they were five years old.
“It’s like they were always here,” the Material Girl singer told People about bringing them home to the US. “It didn’t take long for them to get acclimated.”
“And they’ve learned, in time, that I’m their mother and nothing is going to change that,” she added.
On the twins’ 10th birthday in 2022, the singer celebrated them with a cute slideshow on Instagram.
“Happy birthday Estere and Stella Mwale! 💖💖 You both bring so much Love- Laughter and Light ✨✨ into all of our lives!! 💕💕,” she captioned the post.
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