How Pink and Madonna's Feud Started Backstage at a Daytime Talk Show
Pink revealed why she believes the pop icon "doesn't like" her, and the story goes way back.
They've both been in public tiffs with other music stars, so perhaps it's not so surprising that Pink and Madonna also made headlines for having a so-called feud with each other. The tension between the two singers was revealed when Pink appeared on The Howard Stern Show earlier this year and shared a story about meeting Madonna on Live! with Regis and Kelly years earlier. According to the "Just Like a Pill" singer, she made a joke about the older star that didn't go over so well with the Queen of Pop. "Madonna doesn't like me," is how she bluntly put it.
Read on to find out what happened between them and why Pink says she still has respect for Madonna, whatever she thinks about her.
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Pink claimed Madonna isn't a fan of hers.
Warning: Explicit language in the video above.
During a February 2023 appearance on his radio show, Howard Stern asked Pink if she's friends with anyone she looks up to in the music industry, such as Madonna. Pink replied, "No," and added, "Madonna doesn't like me."
Asked to elaborated, the pop star continued, "I don't know. Some people just don't like me … I'm a polarizing individual." Howard Stern added that Madonna is also polarizing, to which Pink said, "She is, man. [Expletive], I loved her."
They had a run-in at a talk show.
Pink went on to tell a story about meeting Madonna when they were both on Live! with Regis and Kelly in 2003. At the time, Pink was promoting her third album, Try This. That same year, Madonna had released her ninth album, American Life.
"I think that she tried to kind of play me on Regis and Kelly, and I'm not the one, so it didn't work out," Pink told Stern.
"It's just such a silly story, because I [expletive] love Madonna, and I love her no matter what. I still love her … She was such an inspiration to me," the singer continued. "But it sort of got twisted around that I was, like, fangirling and was dying to meet Madonna when, in actuality, she invited me into her dressing room."
Pink decided to make light of the situation at the time. "I just said a joke when Regis [Philbin] brought me out. He was like, 'How does it feel to meet? I mean, I heard you're just falling over yourself backstage. How does it feel,'" she recalled. "I'm like, 'I thought she wanted to meet me.'"
The joke didn't land with Madonna, apparently. "Didn't work out," Pink said on the radio show. "Didn't work out for us."
Pink confesses to being nervous in the clip.
You can watch the video clip of Pink being brought on stage at Live to meet Madonna on YouTube. The singers hug, and Philbin and Kelly Ripa point out that Madonna is one of Pink's idols. Pink, who appears to be nervous, says, "I got sweat marks over here."
Later, Pink performs on the show. Asked during her post-performance interview how it felt to meet Madonna, Pink makes the comment she referenced on The Howard Stern Show. "I thought she wanted to meet me," she replies, laughing along with Philbin and Ripa. "No, it was awesome," she adds.
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Pink slammed the press for furthering "the narrative."
A few days after her Stern interview, Pink spoke out about making headlines for industry feuds. "I'm so saddened and disappointed by the narrative surrounding some of the press I've been doing around my album Trustfall," she wrote on Instagram. "While some of the responsibility lays with me and my inability to lie, and my uncanny ability to overshare- my real disappointment lies in the fact that the art can never be the focus when you're a woman."
Pink mentioned the coverage of her relationship with "Lady Marmalade" collaborator Christina Aguilera in particular. She also wrote, "[F]or every one or two women I've had issue with—there are hundreds that I've complimented and supported and loved on. But we don't talk about that."
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She defended Madonna.
Despite believing the singer doesn't like her, Pink supported Madonna after she was criticized for her appearance when she attended the 2023 Grammys. A few days before her Stern interview, Pink told The Mirror, "It's unfair, it's always unfair, and it's ageism. The attitude is no longer that person has been amazing for so long, it's all about bashing them and I hate it."
She added, "When a person walks out, the first thing I think is not: 'Holy [expletive] did you see their face?' I don't think like that. I think: 'Holy [expletive], that person has been amazing for so long.'"
For her part, Madonna has never spoken publicly about her relationship with Pink.
