Model Lourdes Leon claimed during an October 2021 interview that her mother Madonna is a “control freak” and controlled her “whole life.”

In a chat with Interview magazine, Leon said, “My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.”

ALSO READ | Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon makes Met Gala debut with armpit hair | Watch

Leon also further claimed that she had to pay for her own tuition at the University of Michigan’s School of Music and Dance, which she attended from 2014 to 2018, as well as her own apartment rents in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

“We don’t get any handouts in my family. Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege,” she said. “There’s no denying that. But I think my mom saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, ‘My kids are not going to be like this.’ Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you.”

ALSO READ | TikTok star Addison Rae says ‘He’s All That’ taught her to be true to herself

However, Leon added that although she had a “rigid upbringing,” the 25-year-old still looks to her mother for advice. 

“I’ve been so concerned with making a decent living, and wanting to live more luxuriously than I was when I first graduated and wasn’t earning a lot of money. She was like, ‘ Remember, this shit is not real. It’s not about the money or your face or how hot you look. It’s about what you’re bringing into the world and what you’re going to leave behind.’ That always shakes me awake when I get too caught up in everything,” Leon said.

ALSO READ | Adele reveals how her close friends reacted to her new single ‘Easy on Me’

Lourdes Leon, who is one of Madonna’s six kids, works as a model and lives in New York City. She made her modelling debut in 2016 for Stella McCartney. 

She’s also walked the runway for Marc Jacobs, Juicy Couture, Swarvoski, and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty line.