- Lourdes Leon called her mother Madonna a "control freak" when speaking to Interview Magazine.
- "I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school," she said.
- Leon added that her family doesn't do "handouts," which meant she had to be financially independent.
Lourdes Leon recently opened up about her relationship with her famous mom, Madonna, telling Interview Magazine that her pop star mother "is such a control freak."
Leon, the eldest of Madonna's six children, spoke to the magazine following her appearance at the Met Gala in New York City earlier this year. The 25-year-old model made it clear that while she has a famous mother, she's working hard to support herself.
"We don't get any handouts in my family. Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. There's no denying that," she said. " 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.'"
Leon, whose father is Madonna's ex, Carlos Leon, added, "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."
However, Leon did share in the interview some of the motherly wisdom she's received from Madonna that's stuck with her.
"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,'" she recalled her mother saying. "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.'"
During the interview, Leon also said she understands "how influential and amazing" her mother is to the world.
"She's probably the hardest worker I've ever seen. I didn't inherit that, unfortunately. I inherited her control issues, but not her work ethic," she quipped.
Leon made headlines last month when she returned to the modeling world after her debut in 2018.
