All About Madonna's Daughter Lourdes Leon

Madonna's eldest child is a force to be reckoned with.

Lourdes Leon, 26, who goes by the nickname “Lola,” has built a successful career in the fashion and entertainment industries.

"I'm green with envy because she’s incredible at everything she does – she’s an incredible dancer, she’s a great actress, she plays the piano beautifully, she’s way better than me in the talent department," Madonna told British Vogue in 2019.

Lourdes — whom Madonna welcomed with her then-boyfriend, actor Carlos Leon in 1996 — started dabbling in fashion when she was a teenager, starting a clothing line with her mom. The mother-daughter duo launched a juniors clothing collection at Macy’s Herald Square in New York called Material Girl in August 2010. "I respect her taste, and I rarely disagree with her," Madonna said at the time.

Despite Lourdes – who is one of six children – calling her mom a “control freak,” the pair share a close bond. The two can often be seen attending events together, and Lourdes even paid homage to her mom at the 2023 Grammys by wearing a red crystal-covered dress with a cone bra top, emblematic of Madonna's corset from her Blond Ambition World Tour in the ‘90s.

So who is Madonna’s daughter? Here is everything to know about Lourdes Leon and her relationship with her famous mom.

She was born in Los Angeles

Madonna and her ex, Carlos Leon, welcomed their baby girl, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, on Oct. 14, 1996. The newborn weighed 6 lbs., 9 oz. and was born at 4:01 p.m. at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

Lourdes is a town in Southern France known for healing and miracles. However, the “Vogue” singer chose her daughter’s moniker simply because she loved the name.

She is a model

Lourdes has been modeling on the catwalk for several years, making her runway debut for Gypsy Sport in 2018 at New York Fashion Week.

She has since walked in shows for Rihanna, Luis De Javier, Versace and more and has been featured in campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney and Swarovski. She even graced a group cover of Vogue in 2021.

The multihyphenate also splashed into the cosmetic industry in 2023, landing her first makeup campaign as one of the new faces of Make Up For Ever's HD Skin Powder Foundation.

“I enjoy being very hands-on with the campaigns I do, so that I’m not just modeling, per se,” she told Interview Magazine in October 2021. “I dance, I have a very specific sense of style and I’m interested in aesthetics, so I like to incorporate all those parts of myself into my projects.”

While her mom is supportive of her career, Madonna advised Lourdes to think long-term about her future.

“She’s very much like, ‘Proceed with caution and think about what you want to be known for,' " she added. "I’ve thought a lot about that recently, because as a 'model,' you’re basically relying on your looks. It can feel very overwhelming and can potentially cause a lot of insecurity.”

Lourdes has been making headlines in recent months for her steamy shoots, including a May 2023 W Magazine feature that saw the 26-year-old posing on a pool table in a nearly nude lace catsuit. In August, she posed completely in the buff in a Dion Lee ad campaign, wearing only some strategically placed purses fashioned into a bikini.

She finds her mom empowering

As Lourdes finds herself at the same age Madonna was when she started releasing hits such as “Like a Virgin," the model says she now appreciates the meaningfulness behind her mom’s discography.

“My experience with my mom’s music has changed so much as I’ve gotten older, because I’m increasingly able to recognize how influential and amazing this woman is, and how empowering to other women and ahead of her time she has always been,” she told Interview Magazine.

She continued, “I didn’t fully comprehend that until I realized the importance of empowerment and what it means to be a woman. She’s probably the hardest worker I’ve ever seen.”

She has a budding music career

Despite telling Interview Magazine in 2021 that she didn’t have a strong desire to sing, she released her first solo single “Lock&Key” and the accompanying music video in August 2022 under the name Lolahol.

Madonna boasted about her daughter’s work, sharing a screenshot of the cover artwork for Lourdes’ track on her Instagram Stories with the caption, “I am so proud of you Lola!”

While "Lock&Key" marks her first solo release, Lourdes provided backing vocals as a teenager for Madonna’s 2012 track “Superstar,” which Madonna wrote about her.

Her mom tries to keep her humble

Upon her high school graduation, Lourdes worked to become financially independent and paid for an apartment and her college tuition at the University of Michigan — the same school her mom attended.

“We don’t get any handouts in my family,” she told Interview Magazine. “Obviously, I grew up with extreme privilege. 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.’ ”

After college, while Lourdes was building her career in the fashion industry, her mom gave her one piece of advice that really resonated with her.

“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,” Lourdes shared. “That always shakes me awake when I get too caught up in everything.”

She is bilingual

When asked if her father — who speaks Spanish — taught her the language, Lourdes joked to Interview Magazine that he was "lazy" and didn't. However, she does speak French.

“He didn’t feel like it,” she said. “He thought I was juggling a lot with French, which I speak fluently. I’m really trying to learn Spanish, and I try to speak it with my boyfriend and my other friends who are fluent.”

She has tattoos honoring her family

Lourdes made a permanent gesture to display her love for her family. She got “MOM” tattooed across her middle right knuckles in honor of Madonna and “DAD” across her middle left ones to honor her father.

She also has her younger sister Mercy’s name tattooed on her inner left arm and her brother David’s name etched below. Lourdes got her first tattoo when she was 19 years old, and has at least 11 known tattoos.

Her first boyfriend was Timothée Chalamet

Lourdes revealed in an editorial spread for Vanity Fair in 2021 that her first boyfriend was Dune actor Timothée Chalamet. The couple attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City together.

"I respect him a lot. We were a little item," she shared.

In an interview with Andy Cohen at SiriusXM Studios in 2017, Chalamet and Cohen reminisced about meeting on the dance floor while Chalamet was dating Lourdes.

"Well I don't know if you remember but Madonna was kinda with us dancing and my buddy Joey was there and Lola was there too and we were all dancing together," the Don’t Look Up star revealed. "I don't know, I usually don't talk about this stuff, but that was a good night."

When Cohen asked Chalamet how long he dated Lourdes, the actor blushed and responded, "Next question, I'm outta here."