Madonna was unequivocally #WithHer during the recent presidential election, which might explain why she had politics on her mind when we caught up with her on the red carpet Friday (Dec. 9) at Billboard‘s Women in Music event, where she is being honored as Woman of the Year.
Asked how she felt about the Woman of the Year honor, the pop icon said, “For me… [since] Hillary Clinton lost the election, it’s really important to make a stand and speak my mind about the importance of women and women empowering themselves and believing in themselves and understanding their worth.”
Appearing at Friday’s event presented another opportunity for the singer to address those issues, as well as consider how involved she wants to get in the political arena in the future. “I think I’ve always been political,” she said. “But I think in this particular time, especially I do want to fight for not only human rights, but for women’s rights.”
One thing she’s still on the fence about, though, is potentially running for president. Like Vice President Joe Biden, she gave the question a definitive “maybe” when asked about higher aspirations on the red carpet, saying that decision would rest on “how much abuse” she was willing to take from the press.
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If she were to take the plunge, the first thing President Ciccone would do is pay school teachers “a lot more money.” That makes perfect sense, considering that the mother of four noted there is a big difference between Pop Icon Madonna and Mom Madonna. The former is “consumed with herself” and how she looks and whether she’s ready for her show, while Momdonna is the opposite: firmly focused not on herself, but on her family.
(Fast-forward to the 1:03:00 mark to see Madonna’s interview.)
“Woman of the Year” recipient Madonna is one of several 2016 Women in Music honorees. Also honored this year are Shania Twain (“Icon”), Halsey (“Rising Star”), Andra Day (“Powerhouse”), Meghan Trainor (“Chart Topper”), Maren Morris (“Breakthrough Star”), Kesha (“Trailblazer”) and Alessia Cara (“Rule Breaker”). Billboard’s Women In Music airs Dec. 12 on Lifetime.
