Ever since I heard it was coming, I've been mocking "Not About Madonna," the just-released memoir by Whit Hill, who was the singer's roommate during her time at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. (Are you kidding me? I asked. You were roommates for one semester 35 years ago and you're just now getting around to writing a book?) But after reading this Q&A in Interview magazine, I kind of like her a bit, and think her story, however not "not" about Madonna -- I wouldn't be interested in anything you have to say if not for Madonna, so even the parts about losing your mother become about Madonna -- is sorta fascinating.
Turns out she was the one from the Big Apple whose father played poker with Al Pacino and who learned to make key-lime pie from Faye Dunaway at her Upper West Side apartment. And she was the one whose mother supported her dreams of dancing and writing. The Interview-er got the impression that when Whit and Madonna were younger, Madonna "almost wanted to switch places" -- and I can see why. (Her life sounded exactly like I wanted to escape to, too!) From there, life is filled with surprises -- Hill finds life in the suburbs to be intoxicating and never goes home while Madonna conquers New York and then the world -- and a twist of fate with her mother almost makes their brief friendship seem like fate, whatever that is.
That Hill owns up to how distasteful it was of her to grant interviews back in the day -- "But I'll admit it, at the time, I was struggling hugely as a single mom. I priced it really high and was able to pay my back rent. I tried to do it on my terms and not say anything that lacked integrity. But they still made it look like we were lesbians" -- only makes her continued milking of the situation all the more acceptable in my eyes. Let's be honest: How COULD you resist talking about it if Madonna was your old roommate?!!Read on HERE.
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