Everything Cher Said About Madonna During Their Bitter Feud

When you look at the careers of Madonna and Cher, you find a lot of surprising similarities. They are both iconic, mononymous music superstars who have garnered universal fame and devoted fan followings. Cher has been credited with revolutionizing the music industry and earned the nickname of the Goddess of Pop as a result,while Madonna made similar waves and became known as the Queen of Pop for several decades. They both pursued film careers and have been in the media spotlight since the '70s and '80s, respectively. Despite these similarities, however, the pair haven't exactly bonded over their shared experiences.

Cher made it clear in a 1991 interview that she feels Madonna is an unkind person, and hasn't shied away from sharing her true feelings about the "Like a Prayer" songstress numerous times since. While criticizing Madonna for her behavior, Cher has also been surprisingly complimentary about her savvy and talent for predicting musical trends. Even more surprising has been Madonna's lack of public involvement in the feud, typically keeping quiet when it came to responding to Cher's remarks.

That is, until 2023, when Madonna low-key called out Cher during her Celebration Tour. The stage show included a video montage that features a clip of Cher during an interview calling Madonna "mean" and "rude." However, as Cher herself joked with The Los Angeles Times in October 2023 that she's called Madonna things "a lot worse than that" over the years.

When Cher first spoke out about Madonna, she came out swinging and actually got herself in a bit of hot water for her choice in words. Speaking with entertainment journalist Steve Kmetko in 1991 — the interview Madonna later used in her Celebration Tour video — Cher was asked about Madonna, and she couldn't hold back when it came to slamming her fellow pop star's behavior and attitude.

"There's something about her that I don't like. She's mean. I don't like that," Cher said. The "Moonstruck" star went on to explain that she'd had Madonna over to her house on a few occasions, as she was friends with Madonna's ex-husband, Sean Penn, and she wasn't particularly nice to anyone there.

"It seems to me that she's got so much that she doesn't have to act the way that she acts. She acts like a spoiled brat all the time," Cher told Kmetko. "It seems to me when you reach the kind of acclaim that she's reached... you should be a little bit more magnanimous and a little bit less of a c***." It seems that this particular comment is what Cher meant when she said in 2023 that she's called Madonna worse things than simply "rude."

When two of the biggest stars in the world don't like one another, the world takes notice, and Cher's feud with Madonna became instantly iconic around the world. So, when Cher talked to Steve Wogan in an interview on the BBC a few months after her sit-down with Kmetko, he wasn't above stirring the pot. Wogan shoehorned the topic of Madonna in during their chat, and joked about how he tried to find "a subtle way to drag her in." Cher quickly shot back, "How about dragging her in by her hair?"

Cher then tried to balance her remarks with some praise, but that praise quickly got derailed by honesty. "She's unbelievably creative... because she's not unbelievably talented, she's not beautiful, [and] she's rude," Cher said. "I do respect that she goes much further than anyone should go, and I think that's interesting about her." She also complimented Madonna for being experimental and not letting anyone stifle her artistic vision by continuing to follow her own path. 

While she's never held back about her feelings toward Madonna, Cher has also said that reports about their so-called feud have been blown out of proportion. She feels that, despite her criticisms, she hasn't said anything Madonna doesn't know about herself. Cher said in an interview in January 2002 (via Attitude), "We've hung out together... and I think that Madonna is not under the impression at all that she can't be a b***h, that's the truth and she can be."

That being said, Cher also expressed regret for her choice of words during her 1991 interview with Steve Kmetko, when she called Madonna a particularly vulgar slur. "I remember my manager was hitting his head against the wall," Cher recalled of the response to her controversial comment. "I don't know why I said it, though. It's something you'd never say even if it was true."

Cher's matter-of-fact approach to addressing her feelings towards Madonna hasn't changed much over the years. Still, the "Believe" singer has tried to approach the subject with a mix of praise for Madonna's work, and earnest distaste for her personality. In 2017, Cher participated in a Reddit AMA session, and was asked if she still hated Madonna. Cher replied, "Actually I don't. I never hated her, I just thought she was a b***h. Actually, I quite respect her."

The following year, Cher made an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," where she and DeGeneres played a game called "5 Second Rule," in which you get a category and are asked to name three things that fit that category in only five seconds. Cher was asked to name three artists she'd like to duet with. After confidently naming Adele and Pink (notably, two other mononymous superstars) a flustered Cher beat the countdown clock by yelling out, simply, "Not Madonna," implying she'd love to duet with basically any other artist but the "Vogue" singer.

Speaking with The Los Angeles Times in October 2023, Cher said that she and Madonna weren't best friends but that their feud was basically old news. She also revealed that she'd apologized for calling her a mean name years before. In fact, the pair even posed for photos together in 2017, during the Women's Day March, and appeared to be friendly.

Regardless of her feelings towards Madonna's interpersonal skills, Cher was effusive with her praise for Madonna's show business acumen, telling the Los Angeles Times, "There's no one like her that had their ear to the ground and knew everything before anybody else. I mean, she knew what was coming, and she was right on it. I always felt that was her greatest gift — that she could know the trends before any of us."

This was a sentiment Cher has consistently echoed for years. When she appeared for her Reddit AMA in 2017 and denied hating Madonna, she also said, "Actually I think Madge might be one of the most amazing artists I've know... I don't like everything she does, for sure, but she is always riding the crest of the wave... and had great videos."