I Noticed Something in Madonna's Interview Nobody's Talking About (And It's Costing You Influence Too)

What They Talked About (And What They Strategically Avoided)

In September 2025, Madonna did something rare: an actual two-hour conversation with Jay Shetty on his "On Purpose" podcast.

She talked about nearly dying from sepsis in 2023 - four days unconscious in the ICU, her body fighting for its life. She discussed radical acceptance, forgiveness, and her 30-year journey with Kabbalah. She admitted her younger self was "spiritually bankrupt" despite conquering the world. That she felt like "a slave to other people's opinions."

That being on stage is managing the light. I liked that and we can talk about that part more another time because it’s quite relevant to anyone who is stepping into the spotlight.

This caught my attention: "You need to be spiritual to be successful. Success is having a spiritual life, period. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have one."
I suppose success is also a question of definition. I have had more spiritual life than worldly success but we can also argue that without it, I might not have the success I do have and keep growing because when you are dry and disconnected inside, it is really hard to keep going when the going is tough.

And nobody talked about her face.

Why Madonna Matters to Me

I was Europe’s Nr 1 Madonna tribute as seen on TV. I wore the cone bra, did the voguing, felt what it's like to hold that power.

Years ago, during NLP training, they suggested I model Madonna for success. I rejected it. Her path to success wasn't in integrity with my consciousness. She stampeded when she needed to. Fought her way through. I couldn't do that - I was devoted to my spiritual path that guided me in gentler ways.

I didn't get to the top. Maybe for my own protection. Certainly to my personal disappointment.

I'm a fighter too, but differently. Less aggression carried outward. I create spaces of safety. I'm a dragon with a wild heart - don't expect fluffy pillow talk all the time - but I'm no match for Madonna's fighting spirit.

And you know what? I don't have to be. Neither do you.

When this interview dropped, I listened because Madonna clearly has something to say about life, staying sane, success and evolving- I valued her clarity about spiritual life being essential. That gives me validation. She has devotion to her art, her path, her truth. I respect that deeply.

And yet we all wonder- every time I mention I was a Madonna tribute, I’m told “well she doesn’t look like herself anymore, what has she done”- we all talk about her face.

What I Heard That You Probably Didn't

As a voice coach, I noticed something in this interview that affected how I received the profound content they were sharing.

Madonna's voice has changed - it's lighter, higher than I remember. The darker richness, the timbre I used to love, wasn't there. Jay Shetty's voice has a quality that's hard to describe - a hoarseness that my nervous system couldn't quite settle into.

Here's what I kept thinking: the content was so valuable. The wisdom, the stories, the spiritual insights - all of it mattered. But I couldn't fully land in it the way I wanted to.

My body knows when a voice has resonance. Jay’s voice sounds dry, horse and overused rather than allowing me to let it soak in, it’s grating and I just want to give the guy ginger tea and tell him to rest.

When Madonna shares her wisdom, I want to feel grounded by the depth of her experience.
But her voice and tone won’t let us in. She may have been open sharing some experiences, her energy guarded through her tone.

This was a conversation about spiritual expression and speaking your truth. The potential for impact was enormous. I just kept wishing their voices could carry the full weight and beauty of what they were saying - because voice is how we receive wisdom in our bodies, not just our minds.

The Impossible Game

Madonna is preaching radical acceptance while her face barely moves. She's talking about surrender while exercising maximum control over her appearance.

In 2023, after the Grammys, the internet melted down. "Unrecognizable." Plastic surgeons estimated at least twelve procedures. The criticism was brutal. She blamed ageism and misogyny (fair), then admitted to surgery with an Instagram joke about swelling (also fair).

She's right about the ageism. A British music magazine called her "grandma" at 35. THIRTY-FIVE. She's been getting "you're too old" for decades.

The impossible position: age naturally and be called irrelevant, or fight it and be called desperate. The game is rigged.

What Does Surrender Actually Mean?

What does it mean to preach surrender while fighting biology?

Is this hypocrisy or magnificently messy humanity?

We all do this. We all white-knuckle control in some areas (careers, relationships, the scale, whether our kids eat vegetables) while being forced to our knees in others (illness, loss, teenagers, whether our kids eat vegetables)

Madonna couldn't control sepsis. When unconscious for four days, seeing her dead mother asking "do you want to come with?" – there was no procedure out of that. No image management could save her.

But her face? Her body? Those she can attempt to control. Fight against the inevitable. And she has, extensively.

The hypocrisy would be claiming she's transcended the aging struggle when clearly she hasn't. But working on acceptance in some areas while getting procedures in others because she's conflicted and human? That's honest. Relatable. Real.

The integrity issue: hiding one truth while preaching the other.

My Own Contradictions

I'm not good with aging either. I like looking good, and "old" isn't a beauty standard yet.

Sagging skin doesn’t register as ‘beautiful’ to me yet. I’m not proud of that. I’d love to say I embrace ageing visually. I embrace more years on the clock, not the pull of gravity.

As leaders in the spotlight, beauty is a topic worth discussing- you’ll be surprised how big of a hold back it is to many allowing themselves to be seen. Let me know if you’d like to hear more on that topic.

Madonna’s near death experience FORCED her into genuine surrender. No other option. But aging? That's the slower death we can see coming, can fight and delay and control - at least for a while.

Now, you can't always tell the difference between self-love and self-rejection when they're both wearing the same outfit.

"I'm doing this because I love myself!" sounds empowering. But is it? Or are you doing it because you hate how you look and can't bear being seen as you are? That's fear in a convincing disguise.

Then again, self-love can look like taking action. Sometimes "acceptance" is just giving up on ourselves, checking out, deciding we don't matter enough to care. That's resignation dressed as enlightenment.

Louise Hay, the self-love guru, had cosmetic surgery and said it was FROM self-love. Not despite it. FROM it. Because she wanted to feel good in her body as an act of kindness to herself.

Maybe what matters is the energy behind the choice.

When "Concern" Is Just Cruelty

Are we enhancing ourselves or erasing ourselves?

In 2023, people didn't just react to Madonna having work done. Everyone expected that. They reacted because she didn't look like herself. People responded to that.  Now whether her facial reinvention to this degree was intentional or not we never know…and it doesn’t matter, she has to live with it regardless.

And the internet piled on. Mocked. Made memes. The internet- that’s people with nothing better to do than judging others, people that have achieved less, created less, never had the guts to show up and change themselves so many times as Madonna has with all the risks that implies.

What's Real Here

Madonna's spiritual path is real. When you listen to the interview, there's something genuine there.

She reconciled with her brother Christopher before he died, after years of estrangement and his brutal tell-all book. She describes seeing her mother during sepsis, saying "No" to death. She admits feeling suicidal during her custody battle with her son Rocco.

That's someone who's been to the edge. Who has been through the deep waters.

And her image control? Also real. The domain where she's still fighting, still resisting, not ready to let go.

Both are true. She's a work in progress.

Like every single one of us.

What would integrity look like?

"I practice radical acceptance about things I cannot control. I nearly died and had to surrender completely. That changed me. AND I also control my appearance because I'm not okay with invisibility in a culture that's judged my looks since my teens. Maybe I'll get there. Maybe I won't. This is where I am."

Transparency, not perfection.

Different Paths, Different Fighters

Maybe integrity isn't about having it all figured out. Maybe it's holding both truths without resolving the contradiction.

We don't have to choose between "spiritual" or "vain," acceptance or action, surrender or control. We can be honest:

"I'm working on acceptance here. Still fighting like hell there. Both true. Still learning. Still growing. Still a hot mess in some areas."

The spiritual bypass happens when we pretend we've accepted everything while secretly controlling everything. Or judge others for what we're struggling with ourselves.

Madonna gave a vulnerable interview about her spiritual journey - surrender, near-death, forgiveness, radical acceptance.

She showed up in a face that doesn't match those lessons about letting go.

Maybe that IS the teaching.

We're all walking contradictions. Every one of us preaches one thing while doing another somewhere. Whether we have contradictions isn't the question - we do.

The question: Are we honest about them?

Can we say "I haven't figured this out yet"? Hold space for our complexity? Be works in progress without apologizing?

Because being human looks messy. Spiritual growth looks messy - not perfection, not arrival, not all the answers.

Just increasing honesty about where we are.

What This Means for Your Leadership

If you're a senior leader who needs to show up powerfully in the spotlight - in boardrooms, on stages, in high-stakes presentations - here's what Madonna's interview teaches us:

Your voice either carries the energy of your message or it doesn't.

You can have brilliant strategy, profound insights, decades of experience. But if your delivery is restricted, strained, or disconnected from your body, you lose impact. Possibly ten times the impact you could have had.

Your audience's nervous system knows. They might not be able to name it, but they feel when something's off. When your voice doesn't match the gravitas of your message. When your presence feels controlled rather than commanding.

The integrity question isn't "Am I perfect?" It's "Am I honest?"

Leaders feel enormous pressure to have it all figured out. To project confidence without cracks. To be the polished, controlled version everyone expects.

But here's the paradox: that polish can become a prison. When you're so busy managing your image, controlling every gesture, modulating every word - you erase the very presence that makes you influential.

Are you enhancing yourself or erasing yourself?

The most powerful leaders I work with aren't the ones who've eliminated all their contradictions. They're the ones who can name them. Who can say "I'm still working on this" while standing fully in their authority.

So here's your challenge:

Where is your voice literally restricted - by tension, by overthinking, by trying to sound "executive" instead of human?

What would change if you let your voice carry the full weight of who you are - not who you think you should be?

You don't need to have it all figured out to lead powerfully.

You need to be honest about where you are.

That's what creates real influence. That's what makes people actually listen.

Ready to find YOUR voice? The one that carries your full authority without the restriction? Let's talk.