Madonna: I Was Bullied In School For Being A Weirdo

Madonna was bullied at school for being a "weirdo."

The '4 Minutes' singer was shunned by her classmates because she chose to concentrate on her music rather than experiment with drugs like her peers.

She said: "In high school I wasn't a hippie or a stoner, so I ended up being the weirdo. I was interested in classical ballet and music, so the kids were quite mean if you were different."

"I was one of those people that people were mean to. When that happened, instead of being a doormat, I decided to emphasize my differences. But if your joy is derived from what society thinks of you, you're always going to be disappointed."

Madonna - who has three children with husband Guy Ritchie - also revealed she initially found it difficult to work with Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams on her upcoming album 'Hard Candy'.

She added to Vanity Fair magazine: "It did take time to get comfortable. It's not like we hit it off right away. Writing is very intimate. You have to be vulnerable and it's hard to do that with strangers."