Expat Magazine

You Don't Cook? Shame on You.

By Expatmum @tonihargis
Not sure if the interview has aired in the UK, but Madonna's been all over the TV here in the States. (New movie coming out, see.)
The thing that's causing ripples this time is the statement that she has never cooked a full meal on her own. (Bit of a change from the sex scandals she used to incite.) Anyway, the statement  seems to have been truncated into "I have never cooked", but if you watch the video, she actually says she's never cooked a full meal on her own. Why is this surprising? She went from a brief stint in college, to dancing in clubs in New York, and had hit the big time while still in her 20's. As a student and then a young working 20-something in London, I don't think I cooked many full meals on my own in that time either. By the time Madonna started a family, she had more money than most third world countries. Why in god's name would she cook if she didn't want to. (I understand that some celebrities "cook", but that's because they want to.)
But talk about a double standard. Remember the time Mick Jagger was asked the same question? No? 
Exactly.
Some of the comments at the Daily Mail are mildly ridiculous too.  (Ok, Ok, it's DM readers so should I really be surprised?)

"Sad admission, and nothing to be proud of anyway." Not that I'm a great Madge fan these days, but there was neither shame nor pride when she said it. It's just a fact of her life.
"I enjoy nothing more than cooking for my family and if I am away from them, I miss it. Try it sometime Madonna, you do not know what you are missing." I have a feeling that if Madonna felt remotely interested in learning to cook, she would have flung herself into it, mastered every cuisine under the sun and be running a global restaurant chain by now. I think she knows exactly what she's (not) missing.
"Now I understand why she hasn't ever been able to get hold of her husbands. A woman who doesn't know how to cook then doesn't know how to keep her man." Again, I don't think Madge has had any trouble "getting hold" of her husbands somehow. And I guarantee her lack of interest in the kitchen wasn't what ended her marriages.
"Cooking nutritious meals for your children is one of the most loving and important things a mother can do. (*1) It's not surprising that Madonna has never done this for her children. ( *2)She'd rather dictate to them what not to eat instead of taking the time and effort to provide for them herself." (*3)
*1 - "Lovng"?  Not if you hate cooking. Then, it becomes pure drudgery, turning mothers into knife wielding harpies.  
*2 - So not cooking (as well as probably not doing their laundry, cleaning their toilets or driving them to school) makes her an unloving mother does it? Hmmm. 
*3 As parents, particularly of small children, don't we all "dictate" what they eat. I mean, most of them can't even reach the cupboards, let alone plan a menu for their weekly meals.
"Shameful! I would NEVER admit that no matter if I was the Queen of England!!!" 'Cause we all know the Q of E can knock up a mean lamb pasanda from scratch.
"I don't think you can call yourself a mother until you have cooked for your children, I don't care how rich & famous you are." Erm, .. So despite the pregnancy, childbirth, breast or formula feeding, you're not really a mother until they're onto solids and you're making them from scratch?
And here's me thinking we were in 2012!

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