Our Guide To Every Celebrity Cameo In Madonna's Star-Studded VMAs Performance

Madonna certainly pulled out all the stops when it came to her return to the VMAs stage.

On Sunday night, the Queen of Pop opened the MTV Video Music Awards for the fifth time in her career, delivering her first performance at the awards show in more than 20 years.

While her last time performing at the VMAs saw the Like A Prayer singer ruffling feathers as she locked lips with both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, this time around, she roped in even more celebrity cameos to bring her hit Confessions II album to life in style.

The Grammy winner kicked things off with a live duet of Bring Your Love with Sabrina Carpenter, beginning with the Espresso singer on the piano, before they launched into an elaborate club sequence.

From there, Madonna was joined by Charli XCX for a rendition of their recent Danceteria remix – and in keeping with the song’s accompanying music video, this was full of celebrity cameos.

Set in a club toilet, Madonna’s section began with her walking out of a bathroom stall arm-in-arm with her long-time BFF Debi Mazar (who is also name-checked on the song), with the two also being seen alongside the actor Julia Garner.

Julia, it’s now well-documented, was supposed to play Madonna in a shelved biopic about the pop icon’s life, and later made a cameo in the Confessions II short film.

Later, the performance included surprise appearances from the model Gabbriette, pop singer Sombr and actor Seth Rogen, with whom Madonna is soon to share the screen in the second season of his award-winning sitcom The Studio.

But there were also appearances from some key figures from Madonna’s past.

Her former flame Tony Ward (with whom she starred in her racy Erotica and Justify My Love music videos) was one of the men seen standing at a urinal, while hip-hop pioneer Fab Five Freddie also shared the stage with Madonna, after being given a shout-out in Danceteria’s lyrics.

Meanwhile, Entertainment Tonight pointed out that the song’s co-writer Andrew Watt could also be seen in the background of one scene.

Besides her performance, Madonna was also the big winner at the 2026 VMAs, picking up seven of the 13 awards she’d been nominated for.

This marks the latest win for Madonna in her current Confessions II era, which has so far included a number one album on both sides of the Atlantic, no fewer than three UK top 40s (including her first top 10 in 17 years), a stand-out performance at the 2026 World Cup final and some of the most glowing reviews of her entire career.