On her 27th birthday (August 16, 1985) Madonna married actor Sean Penn. She appeared with him in the 1986 flop Shanghai Surprise, which was unanimously panned by critics. The couple soon earned a reputation for hostility towards the media, thanks to Penn's frequently violent outbursts against the paparazzi. Later in the year Madonna released her third hit album, True Blue. She co-produced the album with Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard. This included the hits 'Open Your Heart' (accompanied by a video in which she played a stripper who befriends a young boy),
'True Blue' (which was the song chosen for an MTV amateur video-making contest), 'Live To Tell', 'La Isla Bonita' (accompanied by a video in which she played a Spanish woman, the first introduction to the public of her apparent fetish for Latino culture) and 'Papa Don't Preach', an anthem about keeping a baby conceived out of wedlock. The song 'Each Time You Break My Heart' which was written during the recording sessions for this album was donated to actor/model Nick Kamen to record on his debut record. It does not appear on True Blue.
Around this time, a number of black and white nude photos of Madonna surfaced. They were published in both Penthouse and Playboy magazines. The photos were taken during the early 1980s when she posed for art photographers as a way to make money. Although the photos were potentially devastating to her career, she shrugged them off (her unfazed response — 'So what?' — was immortalized on a Ciccone Youth record sleeve) and they only served to fuel her popularity.At this point Madonna transformed her image,
something that would become a trademark for years to come.
She began to pale her face and highlight her beauty spot, replacing her punky bleached blonde hair with a glamorous platinum blonde look reminiscent of her hero Marilyn Monroe. This coincided with her performance in the film Who's That Girl, which was also a flop in the U.S. and a minor success in the rest of the world. Nevertheless, the soundtrack spawned three hits: the title track, 'Causing A Commotion', and 'The Look Of Love'.
In 1987 Madonna embarked on the 'Who's That Girl World Tour' and began her longtime association with backing vocalists and dancers Donna DeLory and Niki Haris. That year she also released an album of dance remixes of some of her earlier material entitled You Can Dance. It failed to sell as well as her previous efforts. She also appeared as Hortense in a film called Bloodhounds of Broadway, which was harshly dismissed by many reviewers. Critics began to peg Madonna as a thing of the past; her career seemed to be fading fast.On September 14, 1989 she divorced husband Sean Penn, citing spousal abuse.
Like a Prayer
Then, in 1989, Madonna once again changed her image. She traded in her closely shorn platinum coif for long, curly black hair and an almost wholesome look for her album Like a Prayer. Returning once more to provocative religious imagery, the title track compared the experience of lovemaking to praying. The video for the song featured Madonna portraying an apparent streetwalker who witnesses a violent rape and murder. A black man (played by Leon) is falsely accused of the crime and is jailed. She goes into a church where a statue of St. Martin de Porres comes to life and passionately kisses her.
This experience motivates her to identify the real perpetrator, and the falsely accused black man, who resembles the statue, is released. The video, which also featured burning crosses, was denounced by the Vatican for its 'blasphemous' mixture of eroticism and Catholic symbolism, and sparked such controversy that Pepsi Cola, who had paid Madonna 5 million dollars for a commercial endorsement, pulled out of their contract, though Madonna kept her fee. As the single soared to number one around the world, Madonna thanked them for the publicity.
The album produced three further American top ten hits — 'Express Yourself', 'Cherish', and 'Keep It Together' — although 'Oh Father' only made the top twenty. A single and animated music video for the track 'Dear Jessie' was released in Europe and became another top ten hit. It also featured a duet with singer Prince entitled 'Love Song'. Madonna wrote the song 'Possesive Love' with Patrick Leonard during this period, and it was later recorded by Marilyn Martin on her debut album. Martin sang backing vocals on the Madonna song 'Cherish'.
The album was critically well-received and even earned Madonna some credibility as a rock musician: 'Till Death Do Us Part' and 'Act of Contrition' both featured confessional lyrics and grungy guitar played by Madonna herself, a budding guitarist.