Jay Leno Transcript
Leno: Your friend Britney was here. Britney Spears was here last week. And I was talking to her backstage. She like idolizes you. Let me ask you. At this stage in your career….
Madonna: Is it necessary to have friends?
Leno: No no no. What I mean is. With somebody like Britney do you see yourself as a mentor? Do you say “I gotta be competitive, i gotta keep up”. Or do you just kind of go, “oh she’s going through what i went through, it’s fun to watch?”
Madonna: I don’t think she’s going through exactly what i went through. Because she started out actually much earlier than i did. But to a certain extent i can understand some of the stuff she goes through. I think the media likes to you know, give her a hard time. And it takes a couple of years to figure out how to deal with that. So i help her with that. I see her like a little sister, to tell you the truth.
Leno: Okay. That’s what i mean. Like what do you say? I mean, we’ve done a million Britney Spears jokes on the show.
Madonna: Have you? You better not try them while i’m on the show.
Leno: But they’re not mean spirited. They’re not jokes you wouldn’t do when the persons not there. I think there’s a certain amount of, when you see a young person who’s incredibly attractive, and successful, that seems okay to poke fun at as opposed to someone who is maybe not doing as well. I mean, I’ve had it done to me. I turn on all these other shows and people are wearing Jay Leno chins. Falling down the stairs or something. That’s okay.
Madonna: Okay. As long as you do it with love.
Leno: It’s really hard to make fun of people you don’t like because then the anger comes through. And people go….
Madonna: Well then it sort of seems real and scary. We gotta keep those feelings to ourselves.
Leno: Exactly.
Madonna: And ultimately. We need to work on not having those feelings at all.
Leno: That’s true
Madonna: But as far as what i say to Britney or what we talk about. I mean a lot of times we just talk about um, she asks me advise career wise. Should she do this show, should she do this interview. But i think for the most part i like to talk about more expansive things with her and try to make her understand that this a job. This isn’t real life. You know what i mean? This is a job. This isn’t your life. And she can’t take evrything that people say personally. Because so much of what people say about you is someobody elses projection. (applause)
Leno: Did you learn that the hard way? I mean like when you’d get critisized would you be terribly hurt and upset or would it roll off your back?
Madonna: Oh god yes. I fancied myself an armadillo for ahwile. I would say it doesn’t bother me to everybody but truthfully some things really cut me to the core. And i was terribly hurt by stuff that people wrote or said over the years. But i’ve learned to undertand that ultimately, what people say about me, it’s got nothing to do with me. And in actually it has nothing to do with them either. It’s thier ego talking. And if i react to it then it’s me ego reacting to it. So its a complete illusion.
Break (Me Against the Music video is played)
Special Thanks to readdragon from the dotmusic forum.