The Truth About Lourdes Leon's Relationship With Her Father Carlos

Pop icon Madonna became a mother for the first time when she welcomed her daughter, Lourdes Leon, in 1996. The singer shares Lourdes with her then-boyfriend, actor and fitness trainer Carlos Leon, who she dated from 1994 until 1997, per People. At just 12 years old, Lourdes knew that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her famous mom and become an actor. "She also plays piano, and she's really into clothes and fashion and style," Madonna, in a 2009 interview, said. "She's got a lot of diverse interests right now." However, she added, "I'm not pushing anything. We'll see what she wants to do."

Now 27 years old, Madonna's daughter has grown up to be gorgeous and is a successful artist and model who has worked with big brands such as Burberry and Mugler. "[Lourdes] is insanely talented," the proud mom gushed in a 2019 interview with British Vogue. "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." (And that's huge coming from the Queen of Pop herself.) Lourdes, who is the eldest among six children, shares a tight-knit relationship with her mother, despite having described Madonna as a "control freak" to Interview. "She has controlled me my whole life ... I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school."

But is she just as close to her dad Carlos?

Lourdes Leon was barely a year old when her parents, Madonna and Carlos Leon, split up in 1997 after a relatively brief relationship. Speaking to People years after their breakup, Carlos said he had no regrets about the way things panned out between him and the pop superstar. "I wouldn't change anything. I got the best thing out of that relationship, and that's my daughter. My daughter is everything to me," he told the magazine. In 2008, the Cuban-born fitness trainer opened up about his relationship with Lourdes, stressing that they were in a good place despite reports suggesting otherwise. "She's at that point where she can call me and say, 'Hey Dad, what's up?'" Carlos told People of their bond (via HuffPost). "It's really cool. We talk every day."

Fortunately, he and Lourdes only grew closer with time, even as "The Big Lebowski" actor moved on and started a new life with his wife, Betina Holte, and their son Meeka Leon. In 2016, Carlos praised Lourdes for being a great big sister in an interview for Hello!, saying, "[Lourdes is] awesome and she's a very cool big sister. So yeah, she loves it." The father-and-daughter duo have been spotted together on numerous occasions through the years, such as in 2009 when they stepped out in NYC for lunch (and in matching outfits, too). More recently, they were photographed spending time together while on a shopping spree in SoHo in time for Father's Day in 2023, as reported by Page Six.

Unlike Madonna, who was very strict with Lourdes Leon as a child ("The list of things I wasn't allowed to do is never-ending," Lourdes  once recalled to Interview), Carlos Leon was much more lenient and compromising as a parent. "I'm very empathetic, and I'm good at listening to my daughter," he told People in 2011. Although, he admits, "I'm probably a bad dad when it comes to disciplining her." For instance, setting Lourdes's curfew. "I try to work with her on it. We settle on a time, say around 10 p.m., and she's like, 'How about 10:30?' And it eventually becomes 10:15," he laughed. He also confessed to being extremely protective of Lourdes, saying that the thought of his daughter dating scares him. "I'm dreading it so much, because she's my little girl. I want her to stay young forever," Carlos said at the time. "So when the time comes, I will be ready to have a talk with the guy she brings through the door." (That may be Timothée Chalamet, who was Lourdes' first-ever boyfriend from high school. Yup. It's a small world.)

Meanwhile, Lourdes also offered some insight into their relationship in her feature for Interview. When asked by Debi Mazar if she ever learned how to speak Spanish from her dad, the "Spelling" singer said, "No, because he was lazy and didn't feel like it." But she was quick to add, "That's not to say he's not amazing. I love him so much."