Madonna is expressing her experience as a parent.
The “Like a Prayer” singer explained why she thinks it has been “a challenge” for her six kids—daughters Lourdes, 26 and Mercy, 16, twins Estere and Stella, 10, and sons Rocco, 22, and David, 17—to grow up with her as a mom.
“Today I am still struggling to understand how to be a mother and do my job,” Madonna shared during a cover shoot for Vanity Fair‘s “Icon Issue” released in Europe. ”Because, whoever you are, having children and raising them is a work of art.”
And after decades of topping the charts and occasionally gracing the big screen, preparing for her the role of mom wasn’t always easy for Madonna, who adopted David, Mercy, and the twins as a single mom, sharing Lourdes with ex-boyfriend Carlos Leon and Rocco with ex-husband Guy Ritchie.
“No one gives you a manual,” the 64-year-old also explained. “You have to learn from mistakes. It is a profession that requires a lot of time. It is exhausting because there is never rest.”