Madonna: I lost my children to social media

Madonna (R) and daughter Lourdes Leon arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party hosted by Graydon Carter held at Sunset Tower on February 27, 2011. Photo / Getty Images

Every parent knows what it's like to lose a connection with their children as they become obsessed with their mobiles.

And even Madonna is not immune, as she confesses in a revealing new interview.

"I made a mistake when I gave my older children phones when they were 13," the mother-of-six tells Vogue.

Honoree Madonna accepts the advocate for change award at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards at the New York Hilton Midtown on Saturday, May 4, 2019. Photo / AP

"It ended my relationship with them, really.

"Not completely, but it became a very, very big part of their lives. They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that's really bad for self-growth."

To avoid repeating the same mistake, the pop icon has stopped her adopted son David, 13, a footballer at the Benfica academy in Portugal, from having a phone.

In the interview to promote her new single Medellin, she praises her eldest child, Lourdes, but suggests the 22-year-old is lazy when it comes to making her way in the world.

"She is insanely talented," Madonna says.

"She's incredible at everything she does – she's an incredible dancer, she's a great actress, she plays the piano beautifully, she's way better than me in the talent department.

"But she doesn't have the same drive, and again, I feel social media plagues her and makes her feel like, 'People are going to give me things because I'm [Madonna's] daughter'.

Singer Madonna, right, and her son David Banda in 2016. Photo / AP

"I try to give her examples of other children of celebrities who have to work through that 'Oh yeah, you're the daughter of…' – and then eventually you are taken seriously for what you do.

"You just have to keep going. But does she have the same drive that I have? No. But she also has a mother and I didn't. She grew up with money and I didn't. So everything is going to be different."

In the interview, the singer, who just turned 60, also attacks the sexism which means she is "being punished" by critics for growing older.