Madonna Talks Divorce, Lady Gaga & Being a "Geek" In High School

Updated 5:30 PM EDT, Wed, Oct 14, 2009

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Madonna donated a pair of her shoes to help raise money for Gypsy child education.

Madonna has opened up about her divorce with Guy Ritchie last year.

In a new Rolling Stone cover story, the pop queen admitted splitting with the British film director brought her to a low point.

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"What can you say? It was a challenging year. I think work saved me, and I'm very grateful that I had work to do. I may have thrown myself off a building," she told the mag. "Life is an adjustment. It's different. My sons aren't with me right now, they're with their father, and I'm not very comfortable with the idea of my children not living together. There are pros and cons, but I feel good now."

Madonna admitted she has been recently listening to Lady Gaga, with whom she recently paired up with for a skit on "Saturday Night Live," and she feels a kinship with the young performer.

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"I can see myself in Lady Gaga. In the early part of my career, for sure," she told the mag. "When I saw her, she didn't have a lot of money for her production, she's got holes in her fishnets, and there's mistakes everywhere. It was kind of a mess, but I can see that she's got that It factor. It's nice to see that at a raw stage."

And she appreciated the "Just Dance" singer live, as did Madonna's oldest child, Lourdes.

"I think Lady Gaga is great. When [she and daughter Lourdes] saw her, I actually felt a kind of recognition. I thought, 'She's got something,'" the pop star said. "There's something quirky about her. She's fearless and funny, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded intelligent and clever. She's unique."

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But while she's worked with stars Lady Gaga on TV and Justin Timberlake on music, there's at least one star that's turned her down over the years.

"I wanted to work with Eminem," she revealed. "I don't think he wanted to work with me. Maybe he's shy."

One thing Madonna herself isn't shy about is admitting to a past fashion mistake. Although she is a celebrated icon, she said the '80s weren't full of personal fashion hits.

"It was the purple lipstick, fluorescent-green sweater combo," she said of her most cringe-worthy look. "It's OK, it was the '80s. It was a bad-hairstyle era. Let's face it."

Another Madonna admission? She wasn't a cool teen.

"I was a geek in high school. I didn't really have a drink until I got divorced for the first time [from Sean Penn] when I was 30," she said. "'Geek' is not a word anyone uses to describe me, except perhaps ['Confessions on a Dance Floor' producer] Stuart Price, who once said, 'You know, you're a nerd at heart, nobody knows it.' I took it as a compliment."

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