Madonna’s persona, whether on stage on in her music videos, has always been the object of scrutiny. Her overtly sexual displays of song and dance have garnered praise for being empowering as well as flack for being vulgar.
However, her recent tour in Australia has seen the singer act up a lot more than usual — from arriving three hours late to her own concert (allegedly drunk) to stripping a 17-year-old girl on stage, it seems that her personal troubles has made her lose sight of what’s acceptable as a persona.
Currently in the middle of a long-drawn and widely-reported legal battle with her former husband Guy Ritchie for custody of their son Rocco — who is said to not want to live with his mother anymore — the 57-year-old’s antics are reminiscent of other celebrities who have let their personal lives take charge of their public appearances — Britney Spears’ head shaving incident in 2007 and, more recently, Miley Cyrus’ new avatar.
“If their situations have a tendency to make them feel low, they’ll try to do things that make them feel high or act out. It’s to show the world that they’re happy and that it’s not affecting them. But there can be an underlying depression,” explains clinical psychologist Pulkit Sharma.
Dr Siva Prasad, a professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health in Hyderabad, adds that current personal issues may only be the tip of the iceberg.
He says, “That kind of behaviour is seen only in people who are very stressed or have a low self esteem and they’re unable to manage it. They may have had some insecurities as children and other traumatic experiences that have a bearing on their expressions, such as parental separation.”
Madonna has since defended her actions saying that her act on stage is just a persona she puts on when she’s in public. But this too could be a defence mechanism that her mind has created, say experts.
“The defence mechanism is created in such a way that the person themselves is not consciously aware of it. We need to understand that she herself is not lying, but it’s her mind that’s playing a trick on her,” says Pulkit.
“Many celebrities, especially performers, have this histrionic behaviour. Even Marilyn Monroe was said to have exaggerated expressions,” adds Dr Prasad.
