Madonna isn’t exactly known for her soft side, but when she appeared on Ellen yesterday, her message was all about kindness. Madonna opened up to Ellen about her high school struggles and urged teens to put a stop to bullying.

“I'm incredibly disturbed and saddened by the overwhelming number of teen suicides that have been reported lately because of bullying,” Madonna said. “Usually when people are bullying someone, they are afraid of the unknown… or they’ve been bullied themselves.”

Madonna explained that her teenage daughter Lourdes is concerned about bullying in her own school, and that she herself felt like an outcast as a kid.

“I never felt like I fit in at school,” Madonna said. “ I wasn’t a jock, I wasn’t an intellectual. There was never a group I felt like I fit in with. I was a weirdo.”

The singer then offered a challenge to viewers:

“If you want to talk about solutions or how can we solve this problem, try to get through the day, each and every one of us, without gossiping about somebody. Without gossiping about anybody. And not only that — not even listening to gossip. Walking away from it. Can you imagine what your day would be like? How much more free time you'd have? I also feel like you'd feel a lot better about yourself.”

What do you think of Madonna’s message? (MTV.com)