POP legends Britney Spears and Madonna made history with their iconic on-stage kiss.
But what do we know about the infamous moment — and are the singers friends?
1The iconic kiss happened at the 2003 VMAsCredit: GettyWhen did Britney Spears kiss Madonna?
Britney Spears and Madonna kissed while performing on stage at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).
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As the show opened, a veiled bride who turned out to be pop queen Britney Spears, started singing Madonna’s hit Like A Virgin, before fellow noughties chart-topper Christina Aguilera joined her.
As she had done in 1984, Madonna emerged from an enormous wedding cake, to perform her single Hollywood, with Britney and Christina.
Madonna and Britney then kissed on stage, a moment that caused widespread shock.
In her memoir, The Woman in Me, Britney writes about the now-infamous kiss:
“About two minutes before the performance, I was sitting on the side of the stage and thinking about my biggest performance to date at the VMAs, when I’d pulled off a suit to reveal a sparkly outfit,” referencing a performance from a previous year.
“I thought to myself: I want a moment like that again this year. With the kiss, should I just go for it?”
Britney says the kiss brought her a lot of attention:
“Oprah asked Madonna about it. The kiss was treated as a huge cultural moment—’Britney kissing Madonna!’—and it got us both a lot of attention.”
Madonna came under fire in 2018 following the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, when she posted a photo of her kiss with Britney on Instagram, writing:
“Gay or Straight, no hate. Stop Hate. Stop Violence. #revolutionoflove”.
Are Britney Spears and Madonna friends?
Britney makes frequent mentions of Madonna in her book, The Woman in Me.
She describes Madonna as a mentor figure, and that as a little girl, she dreamed of being like her idols — Madonna, Dolly Parton or Whitney Houston.
The book also describes how Madonna visited Britney after her breakup with Justin Timberlake.
The pair performed together again, in 2008, as part of Madonna’s Sweet & Sticky tour.
Madonna was also in attendance at Britney’s star-studded wedding, to boyfriend Sam in 2022.
Who else has Madonna kissed?
Since her famous kiss with Britney, Madonna has locked lips with a slew of other celebs.
In fact, it’s an often forgotten fact that she also kissed Christina Aguilera at the 2003 VMAs, only the camera didn’t capture the moment.
While on stage, she’s also snogged Lady Gaga, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Anderson Cooper, and Brahim Zaibat. At her 64th birthday celebrations in Sicily in 2022, Madonna also kissed two women in the back of a cab.
Madonna went “Instagram official” with boxer Josh Popper with a post of them kissing.