Madonna is showing off the benefits of yoga on the cover of Vanity Fair, striking various flexible, sexy poses -- making it nearly impossible to believe that the Material Girl turns 50 this summer. What gets Madge bent out of shape? Being asked about former VMA make-out partner Britney Spears!

Vanity Fair reporter Rich Cohen says he was hinting around the topic of Spears by mentioning the invasive paparazzi, when Lady M held up her hand and said, "Yes, I know. I know exactly what you're going to say. It's very painful. Which leads us back to our question, when you think about the way people treat each other in Africa, about witchcraft and people inflicting cruelty and pain on each other, then come back here and, you know, people taking pictures of people when they're in their homes, being taken to hospitals, or suffering, and selling them, getting energy from them, that's a terrible infliction of cruelty. So who's worse off? You know what I mean?"

Madonna and Britney share another memorable fate; intimate nights with Justin Timberlake. But it's not what you think -- on the Madonna side anyway. M told Vanity Fair, "Writing is very intimate. You have to be vulnerable and it's hard to do that with strangers. ... I grew very fond of Pharrell and Justin."

You can read the entire interview and check out the photos here, along with a retrospective slideshow of Madonna's past Vanity Fair spreads.