Madonna: Like an Icon should have been given on exploring her personal life, which would have made the biography compelling. The biography is divided into three parts. The first part is named "Baptism" and tells about Madonna's birth in Detroit, Michigan, her early childhood, her time in New York, and her dance degree. It also talks in detail about the release of her first three studio albums—"Madonna", "Like a Virgin" and "True Blue"—her marriage to actor Sean Penn, and also her foray into films. The middle part, named "Confession", starts from the "Like a Prayer" era onwards where Madonna has become a global superstar.
Madonna: An Intimate Biography the book, Taraborrelli realized that one of the greatest misconceptions about Madonna was that she was cold and unemotional in her personal relationships. His research found this to be untrue and Taraborrelli cited as an example the icon's 1990 relationship with actor Warren Beatty. Their relationship was generally perceived as nothing more than promotion for their film, "Dick Tracy", and Madonna was regarded as opportunistic. Taraborrelli unearthed that Madonna actually had strong feelings for Beatty. The actor however was not as emotionally invested as Madonna, and the relationship ended with her heart being broken. The author believed that readers would