Rewind to 1986

The year was 1986 and Madonna was strutting her stuff in a video called “Papa don’t preach” – she’d come a long way from her “Like a Virgin” persona, and “papa” became my favourite Madonna incarnation.

The single appeared on “True Blue”, her third studio album, and it became her 4th number-one single on the Billboard charts.

I thought she looked fab. So the following year when I moved out of a jointly owned and centrally located, Victorian Mews house in West Kensington; leaving my house and relationship just didn’t seem courageous enough.

So I opted for a True Blue Cut of my own! It was an act of defiance and rebellion. I severed ties with him and then cut my hair.

After years of hiding behind long hair, I didn’t have the courage to take the plunge in one go. I opted to aquire my True Blue Cut gradually, and visited the salon each week for a month to get there in stages. Losing a little bit more of my old self each time.

On the final appointment when my ears were finally unveiled, the money I’d forked out paid for round-trips tickets for my Knightsbridge stylist to rave in Ibiza.

Fast Forward to 1994

During my recent attic clear out, I came across some old photos from my ’94 foray into “struggling actress mode”. I’d never had dreams or desires about becoming an actress, but I ended up in Los Angeles, and didn’t have a job, and figured “why not?”

Los Angeles is a “car” town, but I didn’t have one. I spent over a year traipsing around the city by bus to attend auditions and act on Set. I did mostly commercials and television, but I landed a couple of movies. One was a MOW (movie of the week), where I played an extra in a party scene.

Imagine this, you arrive at a Fancy Dress Party and head to kitchen. You drop your $3 bottle of wine off. You slyly reach for the spirits and mixers. You hear people behind you. You spin on your heels and come face to face with – a row full of Madonnas.

Yep … finally after nearly a decade after my act of my True Blue rebellion, there I am! My haircut landed me the part of the coveted “Papa Don’t Preach Madonna”.

I still have nightmares about those Madonna eyebrows I had to wear, but at least I was finally able to recoup the cost of those 4 hair-cuts!

Watch Madonna sing Papa Don’t Preach

© Madonna Picture Source Copyright unknown

© Madonna Cartton Image Copyright Sayonmadeit