Madonna in 5 memorable scandals

By Violaine Schütz, 

translation by Emma Naroumbo Armaing .

Published on 20 January 2023. Updated on 22 April 2026.

After releasing the compilation of her best remixes, Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022), and the albums Veronica Electronica and Confessions On A Dance Floor (Twenty Years Edition) in 2025, Madonna is still making waves today. The American icon will also be the topic of two upcoming projects on screen. First, a Netflix biopic series by Shawn Levy, then a feature, titled Who’s That Girl. The release dates remain unknown for now.

For her latest international tour, The Celebration Tour, she staged herself in a funny, star-studded video. Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Eric Andre, and Amy Schumer, joined her in the cult documentary In Bed with Madonna.

Produced by Live Nation, The Celebration Tour kicked off in October 2023. These shows were full of scandalous, sexual, and blasphemous moments, but also of huge delays. The star is known for keeping her audience waiting for hours sometimes. Numéro takes a look back at the greatest outbursts and provocations of the pop music pioneer who inspired today’s singers, like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Anitta, and Cardi B.

1. Madonna in a wedding dress for a not-so-virginal Like a Virgin

In 1984, Madonna became the reason for awakening the lust of many teenagers at the time. For her very first MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, the 26-year-old sang her hit song Like a Virgin. But her performance wasn’t quite innocent as the title would suggest. Dressed as a bride and wearing a belt with the words “boy toy” on it, she jumped out of a giant cake before swaying her hips in a lascivious way.

The climax of her highly erotic and so-called improvised performance? When Louise Ciccone, aka Madonna, decided to roll around on the floor and revealed her underwear. A position mimicking masturbation that allowed the powerful singer to make a statement. Huge sex appeal is not just for men, like Elvis Presley, George Michael, Michael Jackson, or Prince.

2. Madonna in Jean Paul Gaultier’s (i)conical underwear

Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic conical corsets were not the only ones to make an impression. Other stories of Madonna’s underwear have also set the stage on fire. In 1987, Jacques Chirac, then mayor of the French capital and a huge fan of the singer of Holiday (1983), attended Madonna’s concert at the Parc de Sceaux near Paris. Yet, the latter knew that the future French president had a crush on her. She then decided to throw her fishnet panties into the audience, right in his direction.

The artist perfectly aimed her target and Jacques Chirac ended up with the present in his lap. Shortly afterward, the story continued when Madonna went to the Paris City Hall to deliver a 500,000 francs check to the Line association, chaired by Line Renaud. Jacques Chirac tenderly embraced her, and the sequence made both the tabloids and fans fantasize about a relationship between the two figures, just like Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy.

3. Madonna’s sins and blasphemous stagings

In the music video for Like a Prayer (1989), the singer, who grew up in Michigan in a Catholic family of Italian origin, wore a not-so-traditional little black dress with straps. Her outfit caused a huge controversy, as the singer mixed effervescent sensuality with numerous religious symbols, like a church, a gospel choir, a cross, and candles. Some viewed her aesthetic mix as blasphemous, especially since Madonna appeared caressing a black Christ and danced in front of burning crosses reminiscent of the tragedies perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Vatican and several religious associations expressed their anger towards the pop star’s unlimited audacity. Yet, it has never quieted the woman who proudly bears the name of the mother of Jesus. Later, during her Confessions Tour in 2006, the star appeared crucified on stage wearing a crown of thorns, long before Kendrick Lamar wore his Tiffany & Co. crown. Madonna, who dreamed of becoming a nun as a child, also featured dancers dressed as nuns, as well as cross-shaped poles during her Rebel Heart Tour (2015-1016). Once a rebel, always a rebel.

4. Jean-Baptiste Mondino’s aesthetically-pleasing collection of fantasies

In the sublime 1990 music video for Justify My Love directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, a close collaborator of Numéro, Madonna indulges in several fantasies in a glossy black and white aesthetic. SM practices, flirtation with different partners, explicit references to prostitution… Nothing seems forbidden in this collection of erotic scenes captured in the privacy of a hotel room at the Royal Monceau in Paris.

To add further scandal to the legendary video censored by MTV, the rumor that the lines between role-playing and reality were rather thin spread in no time. In the video, Madonna is kissing actor and model Tony Ward, her boyfriend at the time. The chemistry was electrifying.

5. Sex by Madonna, a sultry, avant-garde book

In 1992, Madonna decided to get to the bottom of her ambitious fantasies and published a coffee table book of photographs taken by Steven Meisel. Entitled Sex, it accompanied her album Erotica (1992). It was a pioneering work that heralded the porno-chic trend and paved the way for daring visual projects such as Beyoncé’s Lemonade (2016).

Among queer scenes, SM practices, and orgies, Madonna brought to life what would remain mere concepts for most mortals, while fighting against prejudices and narrow perceptions. Surrounded by Naomi Campbell, actress Isabella Rossellini, rapper Vanilla Ice, and porn star Joey Stefano, she went to great lengths to offer erotic shots, to the point of scaring off Warner, her record company. The “blasphemous” shots were the main issue. One example is the one in which the American singer is tied down to a table shaped like a cross. Released in a limited edition, the book is now available online at a premium… But it is worth the investment.