Madonna: 'I was bullied for being a weirdo'

Madonna has revealed that she was considered a 'weirdo' at school.

The singer, 49, said she was bullied because she had different interests from her classmates.

She told Vanity Fair: "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 emphasise my differences. But if your joy is derived from what society thinks of you, you're always going to be disappointed."

She also admitted that she had struggled to open up to Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams when they first started collaborating on her upcoming album Hard Candy.

She said: "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."

The album's first single '4 Minutes' is currently at number five in the UK chart.