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"Yeah, I was embarrassed by it and kind of hurt by it." That's Kevin Costner, admitting to the Los Angeles Times how his feelings were bruised when Madonna mocked him in her 1991 documentary "Truth or Dare" after he made the mistake of dubbing her titillating onstage performance "neat" during a backstage meet-and-greet.
But he reveals the Big M, who was caught on camera pretending to gag at his gaffe and sniping, "Anybody who says my show is 'neat' has to go," later made amends in a "really beautiful" way.
"She was performing [in L.A.] about three or four years ago, so I decided to take my daughters to see her," he says. "I just thought this is somebody they should see. I didn't call anybody for tickets, I just got tickets and we went down ... "
After a few songs, recalls Costner, "the lights were down, and she said, 'I want to apologize to someone.' And all of a sudden my face starts to get hot ... And she says, 'I want to apologize to Kevin Costner.' She just said it very simply."
According to the Oscar winner, who is out stumping for his bad-guy role in "Mr. Brooks," "Ninety-eight percent of that audience didn't know what she was talking about. But I really respected that, and it showed me the power of just keeping your own counsel for a long time ..."
Adds Costner, "Whatever possessed her, whatever was inside her, she came to her own decision. And a bigger thing came out of some kind of humiliation."
Although he never wrote to thank Madonna for her mea culpa, he tells the paper, "I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart, and that meant more to me than you could ever know."
Next: Quickies: Mischa's Bad Reaction, Tom's Toys
