When Madonna was six her mother died of breast cancer. She broaches the subject on Mother And Father, the most touchingly powerful track on American Life. "That song is a way of letting go of the sadness and moving on," she reflects. She claims she has been searching for a reason for her existence since her mother died.
"Most people ask it, but they don't dwell on it. Don't you really want to know why you're here? Do you really think that life is just about being born, making lots of money, finding someone to have kids with, then dying?'
Are these thoughts accelerated the more you become aware of your own mortality?
"I've always been aware of my own mortality. Because when I was growing up there was always a lot of death around me. My mother died, my uncle died, my grandfather died, all in a really short space of time. My father re-married and had a child with step-mother, and that child died.
"When I moved to New York in 1978, six men died in front of my eyes. I watched them take their last breath. I've always had that feeling of, What is the point of living and of life? Then you have children and you have so much love for them, and you think, Oh my God, if anything ever happened to them I'd kill myself. Not literally, God forbid. All these questions get thrown up and you'd have to be an idiot not to want answers."
And have you found any?
"I have the answer, yes. We're here to share, to give, to love. When you die your physical body no longer exists, but your soul, and what you gave and how you loved goes with you.
"I believe in reincarnation and ultimately that we are all united. I'm sure that this is not the first life in this physical body and it won't be the last. Is this freaking you out?" she asks.
No. Have you ever undergone hypnotism and regressed back to one of these past lives?
"No and I have no plans to either. Too much work to do."
Two Of Madonna's favourite things are watching her son dance naked and sitting up until three in the morning with her husband "talking about life and stuff". Marriage and motherhood, she says, has made her happier than she's ever been. Indeed, the centrepiece of the album is a tripytych of love songs to Ritchie - Nothing Fails, Intervention and X-Static Process.
The British tabloids have painted a less idyllic picture of the couple's marriage. There have reports of arguments in restaurants and fights over who gets to furnish each of their homes. The inference being that it's all destined to end in tears.
"The evil eye of envy hasn't stopped," says Madonna. "The press don't want me to be happily married and have a family. Real love requires a lot of work and sometimes there's a lot of disappointment. But always there's hope. If you rely love someone you'll stick it out no matter what.
"All those songs are a reflection of that feeling. I can have a horrible fight with my husband and be really pissed of at him, but it'll never end on a bad note because ultimately I believe in true love and our relationship."
You said that Sean Penn was the love of your life during the In Bed With Madonna film.
"But I hadn't met Guy then, had I?" she says with a theatrical pout. "I felt I knew what love was when I married for the first time. That's the other dream I've woken up out of. Love isn't what you think it is either."
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