Madonna Interview Magazine – Singer talks biopic script fight

The pop icon also claims Universal wants an “extortionist’s price” to get back her biopic script.

Madonna just can’t Vogue like she used to.

The pop icon opened up about the physical toll her decades-spanning career has taken on her body, explaining in a June 22 Interview Magazine story that she has no cartilage left in one of her knees.

“I have a bad knee now. I have no cartilage in it,” she said, attributing the condition to “dancing for so long in high heels and running on pavement and doing Ashtanga yoga,” an intense and fast-paced style of yoga.

Madonna, 67, continued, “Up until a year ago, I was jumping on trampolines and doing dance cardio and doing a lot of what a doctor would call loading on my joints. Can’t do that anymore.”

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The singer hasn’t cut back on working out, though.

“Now I do Peloton bikes and the Versa Climber and high-intensity circuit training. I ride my bike outside a lot. I dance,” she added.

Madonna’s knee troubles have been apparent during performances in recent years, including her 2023 Celebration Tour, which saw her knee encased in a sleeve, and her 2019 Madame X Tour, which led her to cancel multiple concerts due to “overwhelming” knee pain.

Madonna biopic halted after ‘falling out’ with Universal

Madonna, who is promoting her upcoming 15th album, “Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II,” said she was motivated to make music again after facing creative challenges developing her biopic.

She told Interview that she worked on her script for two years with Universal Pictures before she and the company came to blows.

“We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget because I needed – I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget,” she said. “They couldn’t get their heads around it. I found a way to make it for less money in Serbia, but I don’t think they were into the idea. Maybe they just didn’t believe in me.”

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She continued, “One of their first reactions was, ‘We don’t believe you’d stay in Serbia more than four days.’ And I said, ‘Did you read the script?’ My whole life has been survival. I’m not going there for a holiday.”

She said after the film fell apart, Netflix approached her about doing a series.

“That was a whole other long process, because I couldn’t use the script I had with Universal unless I bought it from them for an extortionist’s price, even though I wrote it,” she told the outlet. “Don’t ask. That’s just the way it goes.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Universal Pictures for comment.

She spent over eight months trying to find writers and a producer for the series, with no luck she said. She thought, “Good thing I have another job because I need to work, I need to create. I need to do what I was put on this earth to do.”

Despite the awaited project, Madonna did manage to premiere a short film at Tribeca Festival in early June. Confessions II,” a six-song, 13-minute prelude to her forthcoming album, featured cameos from Sabrina Carpenter, Julia Garner, Gwendoline Christie, Benedict Cumberbatch and daughter Lourdes “Lola” Leon.