Smash hit

7. Preaching to the Pope

1986: Her third album, True Blue, was another hit, earning her four top five singles. Among them was Papa Don’t Preach, the story of a pregnant teenager who chooses to keep her baby. Madonna, who was raised a Catholic, dedicated the song to the Pope.

8. First of the film flops

1986: Madonna takes to the screen again in the underwhelming Shanghai Surprise, made by husband Sean Pean, the first in a long line of film flops. In her next film, Who’s That Girl in 1987 she played Nikki Finn, a feisty ex-con who spices up life for Griffin Dunn’s uptight New York lawyer. Loved by teenage girls, dismissed by everyone else, it launched two more hit songs, Causing a Commotion and Who’s that Girl.

Times Archive, 1985: Madonna's 'flirt rock' comes under fire

American feminists accuse the brazen 26-year-old superstar of setting the cause of women back years

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9. Who’s courting controversy?

1987: Madonna’s first world concert tour, The Who’s That Girl World Tour took her across America, Europe and Japan. A record-breaking financial success, it also earned her plaudits for its daring, theatricality, and raunchiness. Pope John Paul, however, was offended and urged fans not to attend her Italian appearances.

10. Lesbian love?

1988: Towards the end of the 80s Madonna was spending a lot of time with lesbian comedienne Sandra Bernhard sparking much press speculation that the two were having an affair.

11. Pepsi and the Pope

1989: The video for Like A Prayer, title single of the forthcoming album, featured stigmata and burning crosses and attracted more vitriol from the Vatican. Madonna, and the song, were to star in a Pepsi commercial, but in the wake of the controversy the advert was pulled after only a handful of showings.

12. Gangsters moll

1990: The next move in her bid to become a great Hollywood star saw Madonna play Breathless Mahoney in the film adaptation of Dick Tracy. As well as putting her mark on the film, and earning her praise from the critics, the film sparked an affair with her co-star and director, Warren Beatty

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