Over the years, Vinnie Jones has become well known for his work with good pal Guy Ritchie, starring in many of his films and now his TV show, The Gentleman.
So it’s not surprising that the footy ace-turned-actor, 61, has a few stories to tell about the filmmaker’s ex-missus, Madonna.
Jones spilled the tea on what it was like to work with Ritchie, 57, when he was married to the Queen of Pop, 67.
The former power couple were married from 2000, until their divorce eight years later – during their marriage they welcomed son Rocco Ritchie,
Jones met Madonna after he starred in Ritchie’s first big film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Speaking to broadcaster Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio Breakfast Show on Friday, the actor told a hilarious story about asking superstar singer to sing at his mate’s wedding.
After being asked about the tale by host Evans, Jones said: “Oh, it’s a good story.
“So a friend of mine comes to me and he said to me, my daughter’s getting married.
“Very, very, very rich fella And he goes, can you offer her [Madonna] three million [$4 million] for like 45 minutes?”
Continuing, Jones said: “We were all very good friends in them days. So I went, OK, so I ring Guy up, go down … they lived at the bottom of the just beyond the Beverly Hills Hotel.
“And I lived at the top. So I go down and see and she’s there and I go, ‘Do you want to sing at my mates wedding? 45 minutes, three mil, you know, and I was definitely getting a drink out of it.”
Revealing Madonna’s blunt answer, the former Tottenham star said: “So she goes, ‘Nah’, she goes, ‘I don’t do weddings’”.
Jones then revealed what he did next after Madonna refused his request.
“So I go back to him [his friend] and I go, ‘She won’t do weddings‘ and he goes, ‘Offer her five million [$9 million] for 45 minutes’,” he told Evans.
“So I go back, go back down the hill, and go right. ‘Matey wants to offer you five million for the wedding, you know, for his daughter’s wedding and all that’.
“She went, ‘Vin, I don’t do weddings. I don’t do weddings’. I’m absolutely gutted, aren’t I?
“So now I’m walking back up the hill with my tail between my legs, you know, like driving up in the old green Cadillac I had.
“So I’m going, oh, ‘this ain’t going too well’.”
Continuing with his hilarious story, he revealed his rich pal then REALLY upped the stakes.
“Anyway, I ring him, (his friend) I tell him and all that. He goes, ‘OK, seven mil [$14 million]’. This ain’t no lie. This is absolutely true,” he said.
“And I go, ‘what?’ ‘And he goes, seven mil, 20 minutes for the wedding. My daughter loves her.’
“So I went, I’m in for a right nice few quid here so I go back down the hill and I go in there and I’m sitting there and I’m sort of waiting for it to come around, you know, sort of throw it in the conversation as you do.
“And it was one of them like, ‘Madge, do you know that thing about the singing and all that?’
“And she went, ‘yeah?’ I said, ‘seven mil for 20 minutes. Literally come on, hum something, and get off’,”
Revealing how this incredible story ended, Jones said: “And she gave me the immortal words then – ‘I don’t do weddings’.
“I crawled back up Mulholland Drive. That was the end of the negotiation.
“And I’m telling you, Gwyneth Paltrow was sitting on the couch as well and seven million got her attention. She looked at me like that and I’m thinking, she’ll do it for seven mil, won’t she?”
Jones has enjoyed an incredible career as an actor, and it is mainly thanks to Ritchie.
After switching from the football pitch to Hollywood in the late 90s, he has starred in numerous Ritchie productions.
This includes the Netflix show The Gentleman, which he has recently been filming the second series of.
