 | |  |  | Madonna News & Gossip
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| | Rant: Madonna's Raising Malawi charity is one gigantic fraud | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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For years, Madonna?s ?charity? Raising Malawi has been mired in fraud, lies and simple bad business. Madonna has long been accused of using the ?charity? as a front for Kabbalah, for exploiting Malawians, for wasting resources and for wasting everybody?s time. While it?s no secret that millions of dollars raised by the charity (at a high-profile fundraiser that brought out many of Madonna?s friends) have gone missing, nor is new information that Madonna assembled a crack team of con artists and grifters to ?run? the charity. Back in January, Madonna even announced that her planned $15 million Kabbalah girls? school had been scrapped, and since then, everything has been in a holding pattern. Now the New York Times has a new detailed report on everything that?s gone wrong - you can read the full piece here. It?s an interesting read about how a hyper-narcissistic celebrity was too oblivious, corrupt, stupid or inept to follow through on any single charitable promise she made, but merely showed up for the photo-ops.
A high-profile charitable foundation set up to build a school for impoverished girls in Malawi, founded by the singer Madonna and fellow devotees of a prominent Jewish mysticism movement, has collapsed after spending $3.8 million on a project that never came to fruition.
The board of directors of the organization, Raising Malawi, has been ousted and replaced by a caretaker board, including Madonna and her manager, officials with the organization said Thursday. Its executive director, who is the boyfriend of Madonna?s former trainer, Tracy Anderson, left in October amid criticism of his management style and cost overruns for the school. These included what auditors described as outlandish expenditures on salaries, cars, office space and a golf course membership, free housing and a car and driver for the school?s director.
Most strikingly, the plans to build a $15 million school for about 400 girls in the poor southeastern African country of 15 million ? which had drawn financial support from Hollywood and society circles, as well as the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre International, an organization devoted to Jewish mysticism ? have been officially abandoned.
That prospective move set off a fierce backlash when first raised earlier this year, with Malawi officials saying they were stunned and asserting that Madonna was blaming management breakdowns because she had been unable to raise the money she had promised.
?A thoughtful decision has been made to discontinue plans for the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, as it was originally conceived,? Michael Berg, a co-director of the Kabbalah Centre and the co-founder of Raising Malawi, said Thursday in an e-mail to the center?s members who had contributed to the project. The e-mail announced the replacement of the board of directors.
Madonna has lent her name, reputation and $11 million of her money to the organization that she founded with Mr. Berg. She has been a regular visitor to Malawi, attending at least two ceremonies at what would have been the site of the school in Lilongwe, and has adopted two children from the country.
On Thursday, in conceding the shortcomings of her charity, Madonna issued a statement saying she was still intent on using the organization, which has raised $18 million so far, to advance improvements in the beleaguered nation.
?There?s a real education crisis in Malawi,? she said. ?Sixty-seven percent of girls don?t go to secondary school, and this is simply unacceptable. Our team is going to work hard to address this in every way we can.? She and her aides offered no explanation of why, given her high interest in the project, she had not noticed the problems as they began unfolding.
Trevor Neilson, a founder of the Global Philanthropy Group, which Madonna recruited last November amid signs of upheaval at her charity, said he told her that building an expensive school in Malawi was an ineffective form of philanthropy, and suggested instead using resources to finance education programs though existing and proven nongovernmental organizations.
Mr. Neilson said that an examination found that $3.8 million had been spent on the school that will now not be built, with much of the money going to architects, design and salaries and, in one case, two cars for employees who had not even been hired yet.
?Despite $3.8 million having been spent by the previous management team, the project has not broken ground, there was no title to the land and there was, over all, a startling lack of accountability on the part of the management team in Malawi and the management team in the United States,? he said. ?We have yet to determine exactly what happened to all of that $3.8 million. We have not accounted for all the funds that were used.?
But in a statement, Madonna said she was pleased with other work that Raising Malawi had done in helping children in Malawi, even as she acknowledged its problems. ?While I?m proud of these accomplishments, I?m frustrated that our education work has not moved forward in a faster way,? she said.
Raising Malawi will not disband and will instead use its money in different ways to help the poor in a country where Madonna has sought to become a major philanthropic presence, foundation officials said.
[From The New York Times]
Some of you might suggest that I give Madonna a break, or that things simply happen and it?s no one?s fault. Bullsh-t. Madonna is a smart woman, and she?s been able to make herself into one of the richest, most profitable pop stars and celebrities ever. The fact that absolutely nothing went right, that nothing got done, that none of Madonna?s promises were fulfilled and that millions of dollars were lost, stolen or simply blown on dumb, useless projects, that all proves to me that Madonna simply doesn?t care. That she was just doing all of this for attention, and that it was just some whim, some phase she went through to try to get more attention for being more like Oprah/Angelina/Clooney. She only cared about showing up for the photo-ops. She couldn?t even care enough to donate her own money to the projects she announced, sending out a video asking for donations. Her apathy disgusts me, and her atrophied ambivalence regarding the promises she made to the Malawian people is criminal.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | Vintage Madonna takes the cover of Out Mag: how cute was she? | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Last week, we had the new Britney Spears cover and cover interview for Out Magazine. I knew at the time that Out was doing dual covers for their April issue - and this is the second one, with Madonna. I really thought it was going to be a new Madonna photo shoot and interview, but instead we get a ?never-before-seen? photo shoot of Vintage Madonna, circa 1982, shot by Richard Corman. You can see the entire Out Magazine pictorial here - there are some really cute photos of Madge. This is the face she wants to get back to, you know? Such nostalgia. Here?s photographer Corman?s memory of Madge:
My mother was Cis Corman, a renowned casting director in New York City. In the summer of 1982 she was casting The Last Temptation of Christ for Martin Scorsese and called me to say they had just tested a girl for the part of the Virgin Mary. She said, “You must meet this girl — she?s an original.” I was 28 and had just finished an apprenticeship with Richard Avedon and was looking for interesting people to shoot. So I got this girl?s number and called. It was Madonna. At the time she was living in Alphabet City, and she suggested I go to her apartment and chat about what I wanted to do. I had to call her from a phone booth across the street, because the neighborhood was full of drug dealers, and they didn?t let people just walk in and out. There was a group of kids outside the building, on the stoop, in the hallways, and when I said I was there for Madonna the seas parted.
I looked up the staircase, and I saw this girl leaning over the edge of the banister, and even from three stories below I could see these catlike eyes just looking down. I knew at that moment that she had something special — I really did. She had her best friend and neighbor, Martin, with her — he later died of AIDS?and we sat and talked. She served me a cup of coffee on a silver tray with three pieces of Bazooka bubblegum. There was no pretense to it. When I came back a few days later to shoot her, she said, “You know, we should go up to the roof because I go up there with all the kids from the building.” She was like the Pied Piper of the neighborhood — they loved her. They followed her, they danced with her, they sang with her. It was something they did on a daily basis, and it was remarkable. We just walked up and they gathered around. She put the boom box on — it was her music, though I don?t remember which song — and they just started dancing and singing. She was so alive and unpretentious. She was fierce, determined. Nothing was going to stop her.
After we came down from the rooftop, we walked through the neighborhood, laughing and chatting, stopping in front of a storefront that you see in one of the shots, stopping in front of a senior citizen?s home and hanging out with the old folks. For me, like her, when I do a shoot now, I?ve got eight people around me — but that day it was just the two of us. I would shoot her a couple more times, once for the campaign for Vision Quest, with Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino. It was a hot coming-of-age film about wrestling in the Northwest, and she was the singer in the little bar that some of these teenagers would hang out in. By then Madonna was becoming hot and big, and — in the nicest way — she would go to whoever would help her and move her ahead. I was that person to begin with because of the connection to my mother. But as soon as she had that rocket to fame she was off to the next stage. That?s when Herb Ritts started photographing her exclusively, but that early period of the ?80s was amazing. I was photographing Basquiat and Keith Haring, and just to be part of all that took your breath away. People were truly taking chances. It was just a different energy, and Madonna was the focal point for a lot of that.
[From Out Magazine]
I didn?t know that Herb Ritts photographed Madonna exclusively for a time. That?s interesting. And I love the vintage look at Madge too - especially the details about the kids loving her so much: ?She was like the Pied Piper of the neighborhood — they loved her. They followed her, they danced with her, they sang with her. It was something they did on a daily basis, and it was remarkable.? And now what does Madonna do? She?s still dancing with children, but now she calls the children her boyfriends.
Photos & cover courtesy of Out Magazine.
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| | Madonna is totally fine with Guy Ritchie impregnating his young girlfriend | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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On Sunday, The Mail reported that Guy Ritchie was expecting a baby with his girlfriend of less than a year, Jacqui Ainsley. The report was all glowing and sappy, all about how happy Guy and Jacqui are and how they?re planning on getting married and all of that. Hours later, Guy’s rep confirmed the whole thing, so mazel tov and all. I made the comment that Madonna, Guy?s ex-wife, was probably not very pleased about any of this. It was what I assumed would be a safe guess. Well, PopEater claims that I?m a bitch for saying it, because MADGE IS JUST FINE.
For all the flak Madonna occasionally takes for being a bit of an ice queen, the singer doesn’t hold grudges. That’s why she was delighted to hear that her ex-husband, director Guy Ritchie, 42, has officially moved on and will be starting a family with his model girlfriend, Jacqui Ainsley, 29.
Friends of the singer tell us that Madonna moved on from her relationship with Ritchie years ago, from an emotional standpoint, so she is happy that he is finally settling down and getting serious.
Ritchie and Madonna share custody of their biological son Rocco, 10, and adopted son David Banda, 5. They divorced in 2008. The split was amicable, and Ritchie said in 2009 that he still had warm and fuzzy feelings for his ex-wife.
“And, of course, here you go: I still love her,” he told Esquire. “She’s a manifester, if there ever was one. First-rate manifester. Madonna makes things happen. Put Madonna up against any 23-year-old, she’ll outwork them, outdance them, outperform them.”
Since their split, Madonna has squired a slew of much younger men around the globe, among them, a pair of 24-year olds, Brahim Zaibat and Jesus Luz.
Ritchie and Ainsley have been seeing one another for about a year, and the British press is reporting that they plan to marry within the next 12 months. No word on whether Madge will be invited to the ceremony.
[From PopEater]
On some issues, I will happily criticize Madonna, but I refuse to say one bad thing about her relationships with her exes, especially her baby-daddies, Carlos Leon and Guy. I think Madonna has a good relationship with both men, and that she is happy to co-parent with both of them. So, I think intellectually, Madonna is happy for Guy and she wants him to be happy as well. But there?s another part of her that?s going to work her gristle out for an extra five hours today, right after her daily shots of chicken cutlet juice and kittens? blood.
All for this face?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | Oscar VF Party: Madonna had some more gristly plastic surgery | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Um, so Madonna was invited to the post-Oscar Vanity Fair party. And she brought her daughter Lourdes as her ?date?. That?s fine. I even like Lola?s little minidress, although I?m sure Lola and Madge had a fight about the shortness. Lola looks so pretty and cute, though, which makes what I?m about to say even worse: Madonna had more junk done to her face. She wasn?t content to just have those chicken-cutlet cheek implants put in (which completely mangled her face). Now Madge has gone and gotten her eyes done too - amongst other procedures. Her face just looks like a mask at this point. It?s disgusting. And Madonna should seriously think about the message she?s sending to her beautiful young daughter.
Oh, and style-wise? Madonna looks like a 60-year-old transvestite madam. I mean? do we need to see her leg gristle? No. No, we do not.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | Madonna & Lourdes Leon's Vanity Fair Party Night | | Added 13 years ago | Source: Celebrity Gossip |
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She?s never one to miss out on a good gathering, and last night (February 27) Madonna showed up at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood.
The Material Girl brought her daughter Lourdes Leon along for the ride and mingled with fellow beautiful people at the Sunset Tower hotel.
Madge has a long history with the Academy Awards, having given multiple performances at the gig over the years.
Additionally, Madonna was rumored to have thrown her own post-Oscars bash with DJs Paul Oakenfold and Zen Freeman manning the turntables.
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| | Madonna Gives Malawi the Finger and Abandons Girls' School | | Added 13 years ago | Source: Yeeeah |
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Back in April of last year, Madonna announced amid much fanfare that she would be personally overseeing the construction of a school for girls in her adopted son David’s home country of Malawi. And then her adoption paperwork for Mercy James was approved two months later, and she no longer needed to bribe the Malawi government with promises of “education” and “funding.” See if you can guess whether this school’s getting built now. Fame Pictures says:
Madonna performed a brick-laying ceremony at the school site in Chinkhota Village, Lilongwe, in April 2010, announcing it was her dream to build a school for girls to educate future doctors and lawyers. But less than 12 months later the star is abandoning the plans. Madonna admitted [last week that the project] had been scrapped.
Malawi’s education minister said: “As a Government we’d be interested to know why there is this change.”
I bet I know exactly what went wrong. Somebody went and dropped a house on her. I saw it in this movie one time.
Liar, liar, pants on fire:
PHOTO CREDIT: Fame Pictures
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| | Madonna pulls support, funding from planned $15 million Malawi school | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Before Madonna formally adopted her daughter Mercy from Malawi, Madonna spread around a significant amount of cash in-country, and made one huge promise: to build a $15 million school that would be a state-of-art facility? for girls. No boys. That was back in 2009, and shortly after that promise was made, Marcy got to come home with Madonna after months of international controversy. For a while, it looked like Madonna was going to keep her pledge to build the school - plans were drawn up, press releases were issued, photo ops were done. Now it looks like the initial plans have been scrapped. No $15 million school. In her defense, Madonna now wants to build and support ?a series of secondary schools? in-country.
Madonna is in hot water with the Malawian government after she scrapped plans to build a special school there. The Ray Of Light singer, 52, promised to fund an academy for underprivileged girls during a visit in 2009.
The facility was regarded as a gesture of goodwill after she adopted two orphans, DAVID BANDA and MERCY JAMES, from the poverty stricken African nation.
But plans to construct the 9million facility have suddenly been scrapped, and instead she intends to build a series of secondary schools across the country.
Speaking on her charity Raising Malawi’s website she said: “I want to reach thousands, not hundreds of girls.”
The Malawian education minister Peter Mutharika said of the decision: “We’d like to know why she has changed.”
The move has also upset residents who gave up ancestral land so plans could go ahead.
I never had her down as a brickie anyway…
[From The Sun]
Well? even though I think there are likely personal financial reasons why Madonna didn?t go ahead with the school - the woman is reportedly really, really cheap - I think Madge actually was trying to avoid any additional controversy. The whole $15 million school seemed like a whim anyway, a typical Madonna-copycat of Oprah?s South African girls? school. One of the biggest critics of Madge?s school was Save the Children, who often pointed out that many schools could be built and maintained for thousands of kids, boys and girls, for the cost of one of Madge?s special school.
But still, it?s kind of funny to think of Madonna pulling out of the project because she?s totally over this ?whim? of hers. Did I say ?funny?? I meant really sad. ?Charity is SO hard,? said Madonna, as she gets her gristle fanned by her latest lithe young boy-toy. “Why can’t I just announce things? Why do people expect me to follow through?!”
Photos courtesy of WENN & Fame.
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Kicking off her weekend a bit early, Madonna was spotted at the Aura nightclub in Mayfair, London last night (January 6).
The ?Music? songstress was joined by her 24-year-old boyfriend Brahim Zaibat as she made her arrival at the swanky hotspot.
Once inside, Madge hosted a tryout for dancers to be considered for her upcoming world tour, and it was quite the sight to behold.
An eyewitness told press, ?Madonna was watching the performers, who came from all around the world, and I know she was selecting for her next World tour. About half the group took to the dance floor and performed one after the other before dancing together. They were absolutely incredible.?
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| | Did Madonna get the chicken cutlet cheek implants taken out?!? | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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These are photos of Madonna and her boyfriend Brahim Zaibat leaving Aura Nightclub last night in London. Poor Brahim - he hasn?t really gotten the career boost of someone like, say, Jesus Luz. So why fool around with Madonna? I mean, what?s in it for him? He just gets to hang out in her dungeon? ?Play that song again,? Madonna orders from the intercom, cackling madly.
Anyway, as I was looking through the photos, I noticed something strange. Madonna?s face seems? different. Again. Back in August of last year, I asked if Madge?s chicken cutlet cheek implants had somehow been reduced - they really seemed to be ?settling in? or ?getting smaller?. Now they seem almost nonexistent. Did she take them out? Did she find a new youth-regeneration process, perhaps something involving swan blood and cream made from crushed pearls? Even The Daily Mail notes how ?extremely fresh-faced? she looked:
She has been in the business since before he was born, but his opinion obviously counts highly in her estimations. So when Madonna was auditioning for dancers last night she sought the help of her 24-year-old boyfriend. The 52-year-old singer, who was looking extremely fresh faced last night, was joined by beau Brahim Zaibat and around guests at London hotspot Aura in Mayfair. Visitors to the exclusive members club were treated to a dancing spectacle as half of the group took to the floor to strut their stuff and showed off some incredible dance moves.
A source told MailOnline: ?Madonna was watching the performers, who came from all around the world, and I know she was selecting for her next World tour. About half the group took to the dance floor and performed one after the other before dancing together. They were absolutely incredible.?
In her fifth visit to the club in seven months Madonna arrived with Brahaim and her entourage, complete with her own DJ ready to take to the decks, just before midnight. She settled into the VIP area of the private members club before the dancers in her group started to perform to her. And with her 24-year-old boyfriend by her side she laughed and cheered as the artists took to the stage performing to hip hop and house music.
Junior, a-19-year-old break-dancer from France wowed the guests with his award winning moves which saw him defy gravity holding his own body weight just inches off the floor with his hands. Guests at the nightclub cheered and whooped along with Madonna who seemed to be enjoying the revelry. And after the informal auditions Madonna treated her troop to drinks which included expensive jeroboams of Moet and Chandon champagne and Grey Goose Vodka.
While Madonna picked up the tab she and Brahaim did not over indulge sticking to water throughout the night. But the lack of alcohol didn?t dampen her spirits and she got into the party mood dancing with guests and mingled with other revelers in the club.
One onlooker said: ?Madonna was exceptional, she was happy to chat to other guests constantly smiling and looked to be having a great time dancing along to the music.?
But the night’s merriment didn’t seem to tire Madonna who emerged from the nightclub at 2.30am looking extremely fresh-faced. In fact, the 52-year-old singer who seems to have defied the aging process, did not have a single line or hint of a wrinkle visible on her face.
Dressed in a knee length black skirt, fishnet tights and a chic black leather jacket Madonna exited the club with a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes. She got into a Jaguar with Brahim and headed for home.
The pair, who had dined at Automat American Brasserie earlier in the evening, have been spotted out in London on a number of occasions over the past few months but have always avoided being photographed together.
Last month the couple, who met in September last year, were spotted eating at The Wolseley restaurant and not only left separately but also got in different cars to go home. Back in July last year Madonna performed a similar audition process at the 1,000- a year members club with her ex-boyfriend Jesus Luz by her side.
Although her next tour has not yet been confirmed it seems Madonna is itching to get back to the big stage.
Posting to her fan page she said: ?Its official! I need to move. I need to sweat. I need to make new music! Music I can dance to. I’m on the look out for the maddest, sickest, most bad ass people to collaborate with. I’m just saying……?
[From The Daily Mail]
Madonna?s life is so strange. I mean? I understand how you get to a certain age, and if you have the money and inclination to back it up, you would want to surround yourself with lithe young dongs. But Madonna just seems so asexual at this point. Why go through the trouble of buying some young guy if you?re not going to enjoy him? Does it sound like she?s having fun, at all? Nope. This just seems like all of it is a business transaction.
Oh, here?s the one photo where it looks like the cutlets are still in effect:
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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Enjoying some eats across the pond, Madonna was spotted out to dinner at the Wolseley restaurant in London, England last night (December 21).
Joined by her French break dancer boyfriend Brahim Zaibat, the Material Girl tried to avoid being photographed with her man by hopping into a separate chauffeured car upon her exit.
Earlier this week, Madge ruffled a few feathers when she was allowed to deplane hours before any of the other passengers.
Madonna was on a Virgin flight from New York City to London?s Heathrow Airport, when the pilot was forced to land at Stansted to avoid bad weather.
Once landed, Madge and her entourage were allowed to hop off the plane and onto a bus- but they were the only ones.
One passenger complained, "After about an hour, a bus came along and took her and her party of about 15 off the plane. It seemed a little unfair ? it's not like she is the president or anything. The rest of us all had to wait for another two hours."
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