Forehead as smooth and shiny as a porcelain bowl, eyebrows depilated and lightened to the point of being almost invisible, cheekbones as swollen as her lips: Madonna reacted angrily to the reactions of fans (and non-fans) who ferociously mocked her after her appearance at the Grammys.
"Misogynous, full of prejudices against the elderly", the singer fired after vitriolic comments including that of British TV host Piers Morgan, certainly not an admirer: "I thought Halloween was in October".
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The social media backlash overshadowed the very reason why Madonna - the weight of seven Grammys under her belt - took the stage at the Crypto.com Arena to introduce a performance by non-binary musician Sam Smith with trans singer Kim Petras.
"I had initially thought about presenting the last award, the album of the year. Then I thought it would be more important to introduce the first trans singer to perform at the Grammys: a moment that she made history."
Things didn't go as Madonna had imagined: "Instead of paying homage to the courage of artists like Sam and Kim, many have chosen to speak only of certain close-up photos taken by a photographer with a lens that would distort any face", she explained the 64-year-old singer, feeling
"trapped in the misogyny and anti-aging bias of a world that refuses to celebrate women over 45
and feels the need to punish them if they continue to demonstrate strength of character, commitment to work and a willingness to be adventurous."
It's a vintage controversy: a man with wrinkles is a sage, an old woman is a witch.
If it then turns out that she has done something to correct his physical appearance, the victim ends up in the pillory.
Madonna doesn't play along: "I've never apologized for my creative choices, for my appearance or the way I dress and
I certainly won't start now
," the chameleonic singer said, and the 'New York Times ' seems to prove her right.
Commentator and novelist Jennifer Weiner traces the story of
Madonna's "intentional reinventions" throughout her 40-year career
in an op-ed : "From arriving on the New York club scene in vintage corsets, lace gloves and crucifixes, to ascension among Hollywood royalty with the Material Girl Marylin look".
And Weiner always mentions the androgynous Madonna, the dominatrix, the hippie converted to the cabal, the chic designer, retro-disco, or English lady looks in the British countryside after her wedding with Guy Ritchie not to mention the sex symbol in the photo book Sex by Steve Meisel.
"After the Grammys - he writes - fans complain that she no longer looks like Madonna, but which Madonna are they talking about? She has been blonde and brunette, butch and female. She put on scrap and couture clothes, adopted and abandoned the British accent. Each new version has been a look and a commentary on the look, a statement on the artifice of beauty and on its right to establish the terms in which it is seen and judged".