Madonna Called Whitney Houston, Sharon Stone ‘Mediocre’ in Old Letter
A newly unearthed letter written by Madonna in the Nineties, in which the pop star called Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone “horribly mediocre,” is expected to sell at auction for $5,000.
The singer addressed the note to “J,” a possible reference to actor John Enos (whom the singer briefly dated). The note is part of Gotta Have Rock and Roll’s “Rock & Roll Pop Culture Auction” launching on Wednesday, July 19th.
The icon vented throughout the letter about being “punished” for her innovative and risqué work, while “less interesting and exciting people are reaping the benefits of the roads [she] paved.”
“Maybe this is what black people felt like when Elvis Presley got huge,” she wrote. “It’s so unequivocally frustrating to read that Whitney Houston has the music career I wish I had and Sharon Stone has the film career I’ll never have. Not because I want to be these women because I’d rather die, but they’re so horribly mediocre and they’re always being held up as paragons of virtue and some sort of measuring stick to humiliate me.
“Everything I do is so original and unique, and I put so much of myself into it, like my book and record, and it’s only brought me heartache and pain,” she continued. “I don’t think I can play the game to be accepted. I’m too intelligent. I have too much pride.”
Elsewhere in the intimate note, Madonna described her overall life outlook as “black black black,” adding, “I feel I’ve lost the fight and now I feel I have no career, no family, nothing permanent or tangible.”
Stone responded to Madonna directly via Instagram, squashing any gossipy attempts to pit the stars against each other.
“First, I think it’s absurd that anyone is publishing your private letters,” she wrote. “Know that I am your friend. I have wished to be a rock star in some private moments … have felt as mediocre as you described. We know, as only those who have survived so long that owning our own mediocrity is the only way to own our own strengths; to become all that we both have become. I love and adore you.”
As Buzzfeed notes, Madonna admitted in a mid-Nineties interview with Entertainment Tonight that she had nightmares about her chart rivalry with Houston.
“I dreamt that I opened up Billboard Magazine and my song had dropped to Number Three and Whitney Houston’s had gone to Number One,” she said. “And then I went down to my voice teacher’s studio, where I take lessons, and I walked in, and she was humming Whitney Houston’s song. And I was devastated. This is what I’m dreaming about!”