Boy George spills on relationship with Madonna in memoir: ‘Like Bette and Joan, we should have been friends’
"I know for a fact she's too full of herself to even mention me," the star says on Madonna in memoir Karma: My Autobiography
By Dale Fox
Boy George has candidly spilled the tea on his tense history with Madonna over the years, in his recently published memoir Karma: My Autobiography.
Despite being two of the biggest pop icons to emerge from the 1980s, the Culture Club frontman and the Queen of Pop have endured a rocky relationship marred by snubs and shade.
As George tells it, the pair’s first meeting got off on the wrong foot when Madonna allegedly mistook him for someone else. “She describes me as head to toe in Westwood,” he wrote, noting he was wearing designer Sue Clowes at the time, PEOPLE reported.
He also recounts several instances where Madonna apparently ignored him in public, including at the opening of the Palladium nightclub in New York. “Madonna arrived with Sean Penn and pretended she didn’t see me,” he wrote.
The ‘Karma Chameleon’ singer also alleges his friend was dismissed by Madonna after she said, “Ugh, I don’t know where it’s been,” after a handshake. George adds he told his friend he should have “poked [my hand] in her eye” in response.
“I know for a fact she’s too full of herself to even mention me” – Boy George on Madonna
Despite the shade, George maintains some reverence for Madonna’s influential musical contributions. “I love her music and I love Madonna,” he told PEOPLE. However, alluding to her reputation as a diva, he added: “I know for a fact she’s too full of herself to even mention me.”
On their strained dynamic, George theorised about the difference between a star’s public and private persona: “I love all the drama of, you know, the pop star behaviour. I love to watch Madonna. I mean, the Madonna brand is genius,” he writes in his book. “But outside of that, you know, it’s how you act.”
However, George holds out hope of reconciliation with the global pop sensation. “Like Bette and Joan, we should have been friends,” he wrote in his memoir. “There’s still time.”
The tell-all Karma: My Autobiography, available now, also provides an unfiltered look into the personal life of the musical fashion icon, including his struggles with addiction over his storied career.