David LaChapelle Explains Why He Will Never Work With Madonna Again

You know, I gotta thank her because honestly I’ve never said no to a job before. We were in pre-production for the video ‘Hung Up’ when she was screaming at me. (…) I had just finished the documentary Rise and I had really worked so hard. That film opened theatrically all over the world and I had just come from that junket. I was tired. I wanted all my life to do a Madonna video. When she was screaming at me on the phone, I couldn’t take it. (…) The song was good and everything was in place. We were doing the job and I remember that being so mean. The shoots were always so stressful with her, when we did photo shoots. I thought God I can’t go through this. I just hung up the phone. I got very quiet because she was yelling at me. I put the phone down. I hung it up. It was a cellphone actually. My agent was sitting beside me and you know, Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone? She’s like ‘You hung up on Madonna?’ and the funny thing was the song was ‘Hung Up’. I’m not here to judge her. Everything in life is a lesson to me. That’s how I look at it. Honestly, it was the first time I said no. She gave me a gift, in a sense, because from that moment on I realized I didn’t have to do everything. I was working all my life out of fear because I didn’t finish high school. I didn’t have a diploma. My mom said I was going to be homeless when I was a kid and I believed her. I thought so too. I finally said no and nothing bad happened. So I started saying no more and more which led me to stopping all together working for magazines and celebrities. I still shoot celebrities, but it’s rare. When it happens is for a reason. Right now I’m focusing on the fine art work. In a way, Madonna, that experience with her was kind of a catalyst. So I should be grateful.”