Sitting at her desk at one of the most powerful advertising agency's in New York, Madonna Badger is the woman behind campaigns such as the famous Calvin Klein advert featuring Mark Wahlberg, representing major worldwide beauty brands like Avon and Living Proof.

 

The advertising exec who found herself on Crain's New York Business' 40 under 40 list at just 32 years old seems like she has it all.

 

 

However, on Christmas Day 2011, Madonna Badger suffered more loss in the space of a few minutes than most of us could bare to suffer in a lifetime. 

 

On Christmas Day, 2011, Madonna lost her three daughters and her parents in a house fire at her home in Stamford, Connecticut.

 

The mother of nine-year-old Lily and seven-year-old twins Grace and Sarah described the horrific events that took their lives and the lives of her parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson. 

 

“It was Christmas Eve and I stayed up very late wrapping presents, my children were asleep on the third floor, my parents were asleep on the second floor… it was our first Christmas in my new house with my children and my mom and dad."

 

 

"Finally I got to sleep, but there was smoke in my room, and I woke up gasping for air, I went to the window and I opened it and I crawled out of the window onto the roof of a porch … and I ran to the far end of the house and I could see sparks flying out of where the electric metre was.

 

“So I then made the impossible decision to run past my parents’ window, so that I could go up the scaffolding to get to the third floor, where Grace was asleep. I opened the window, but I could not get in, the smoke was as thick as gravy and the flames were as hot as the flames from hell, and I could not get in, my body would not allow me to get in."

 

“I was screaming, ‘Where are they?’ … All of this went by like it was in slow motion, it felt like an eternity, but in reality it was only minutes before the fireman came and dragged me off the scaffolding."

 

 

Speaking at Cannes Lions, Madonna shared her story about the night her life changed forever.

 

“My three children died that night, my parents also died, and I lived. I am still their mother, and I am still their daughter… I lost everything but I didn’t lose my mind, no matter how many times I wished I had.”

 

In the aftermath of this heartbreaking loss, Madonna’s friends and family worried for her safety as her grief consumed her.

 

“I felt like I had been blown to bits, I had been blown to bits, I was nothing, I felt like nothing and I wanted to be nothing. I kept begging God to take me."

 

 

“I felt like killing myself many times, everybody assumed I was going to kill myself, including me.

 

"But I was too afraid, that when I got to the other side, that somehow people that kill themselves go to a different place and I wouldn’t be able to find my three little girls.

 

"I was afraid that I’d have to do this life over again and I was not prepared to do that."

 

 

“I am sure now that I am here because I can feel my children, I am still connected to my children, their love keeps me going, and this connection — it’s different than obviously the one that we had when they were here, but it is just so strong,”

 

With a breath and a crack in her voice, Madonna said these hopeful words:

 

“Some days it can even feel stronger.”

 

 

Although many expected her to give up on herself and life, Madonna found new hope in her work and began the campaign ‘Women not Objects’.

 

“I have a new reason to be here, because if I am going to be here, and I am here, then I am going to be here for a reason, I am going to make a difference in this world.”

 

“Now I have found my reason to be here, and it gives me a great sense of hope… the legacy I want to give Lily, Sarah and Grace is to stop the objectification of women in advertising…

 

"This is the future I am fighting for.”

 

 

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