Pop icon Madonna has admitted that she created a misleading image in the early stages of her career for the sake of publicity.

Looking back on her career, filled with sexual imagery in her videos, lyrics, and her 1992 book 'Sex,' she told Ladies' Home Journal: ."Sometimes I was being overtly sexy for the sake of showing off when I didn't need to be. I think I hurt myself.

"Ultimately none of us wants to be judged, or approved of, or loved because of the way we look, or how sexy we are.

"One minute I was saying 'believe in yourself' and the next minute I was saying 'just be sexually provocative.'

"I was letting it pump up my ego, thinking 'aren't I great, they're writing about me, my picture's on the cover of every magazine, I'm so fabulous.'"