Madeleine Talmage Force was born on June 19, 1893, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the younger daughter of William Hurlbut Force (1852–1917) and Katherine Arvilla Talmage (1863–1930). Madeleine’s elder sister Katherine Emmons Force (1891–1956) was a real estate businesswoman and socialite. Through father William, she and Katherine had French ancestry and were grandnieces of builder Ephraim S. Force (1822 – March 12, 1914). Mother Katherine had Dutch ancestry. William Hurlbut Force was a member of a well established business family. He owned the successful shipping firm William H. Force and Co and his father had been prosperous in the manufacturing industry. In 1889 William had married Katherine Talmage who was the granddaughter of Thomas Talmage, a former Mayor of Brooklyn. William and his wife Katherine were part of the Brooklyn society and he was a member of numerous prestigious clubs in this city. He also owned a notable art collection. The family were members of the Episcopal Church which was also the church of the Astor family. Madeleine Astor was educated at Miss Ely’s School and then for four years at Miss Spence’s School, which was located at West 48th Street in Manhattan. According to one report she was “counted an especially brilliant pupil” at this school. She was also taken abroad with her sister Katherine by her mother and toured Europe several times. When she was introduced to New York social life she was immediately adopted by the “Junior League” which was a clique of debutantes. She appeared in several New York society plays and attracted quite a following. She was known to be a very competent horsewoman and enjoyed yachting. One report said that she was bright and good with drawing-room conversation.

She met Colonel John Jacob “Jack” Astor IV, the only son of businessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892) and socialite Caroline Webster “Lina” Schermerhorn (1830–1908). Although it is not certain where Jack and Madeleine were first introduced, there is a newspaper article which shows that he entertained the whole Force family at his home at Bar Harbor in September 1910. During their courtship he took her on automobile drives and yacht trips and they were often followed by the press. Madeleine and Jack were engaged in August 1911 and married on September 9, 1911. There was a considerable amount of opposition to his marriage not only because of their age difference but also since he had divorced his first wife only two years previously in November 1909. Many were opposed to divorce at this time and felt that if people were divorced they should not be allowed to remarry. Some Episcopalian Ministers refused to perform the ceremony. The couple were eventually married at Beechwood which was his mansion in Newport, by a Minister of the Congregational Church. His son William Vincent Astor (1891–1959) served as best man. After they were wed, Jack took Madeleine Astor on his yacht and before he left he said, “Now that we are happily married I don’t care how difficult divorce and remarriage laws are made. I sympathize heartily with the most straight-laced people in most of their ideas but I believe remarriage should be possible once, as marriage is the happiest condition for the individual and the community.” After their marriage, they had an extended honeymoon. They visited several places locally first, then in January 1912, they sailed from New York on the Titanic’s sister ship the Olympic and enjoyed a long Egyptian tour. It was while returning from this part of their honeymoon that they booked their passage on the Titanic.

Madeleine Astor, then five months pregnant, boarded the Titanic as a first-class passenger in Cherbourg, France, with her husband; her husband’s valet, Victor Robbins; her maid, Rosalie Bidois; and her nurse, Caroline Endres. They also took Kitty, Astor’s pet Airedale, and occupied one of the parlor suites. On the night of April 14, 1912, Colonel Astor reported to his wife that the ship had hit an iceberg. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious, though he helped her strap on her lifebelt. While they were waiting on the boat-deck, Mrs. Astor lent Leah Aks, a third-class passenger, her fur shawl to keep her son, Filly, warm. At one point, the Astors retired to the gymnasium and sat on the mechanical horses in their lifebelts. Colonel Astor found another lifebelt which he reportedly cut with a pen knife to show Madeleine what it was made of. When it was time to board a life boat, Madeleine Astor, her maid, and her nurse had to crawl through the first-class promenade window into the tilting lifeboat 4 (which had been lowered down to A deck to take on more passengers). Astor had helped his wife to climb through the window and asked if he could accompany her as she was ‘in a delicate condition’. The request was denied by Second Officer Charles Lightoller. An account of Madeleine’s boarding of the lifeboat was given by Archibald Gracie IV to the US Senate Titanic inquiry. Gracie was a fellow passenger and recalled the events regarding Madeleine in the following terms.

Astor and his valet perished in the sinking; the former’s body was recovered on April 22. He was found to be carrying several thousand dollars in cash, brought with him from his cabin. His young widow and the other survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. Madeleine Astor gave an account of what she recalled almost immediately after her arrival home through her spokesman Nicholas Biddle who was a trustee of the Astor Estate. After Madeleine Astor returned home from her ordeal, she was kept in strict retirement. Her first social function was not until the end of May when she held a luncheon at her mansion on Fifth Avenue for Arthur Rostron, the Captain of the Carpathia, and Dr. Frank McGee, the ship’s surgeon. She held this event with Marian Thayer, who was also a survivor of the Titanic. Both women wished to thank these men for their assistance when they were on board the Carpathia. In his will, John Jacob Astor IV left Madeleine an outright sum of $100,000. In addition, he bequeathed to her the income from a trust fund of $5 million and the use during her life of the house on Fifth Avenue. Both of these latter provisions, she would lose if she remarried. A fund of $3 million was set aside for his unborn child John Jacob “Jakey” Astor VI (1912–1992) which he would control when he became of age. On August 14, 1912, Madeleine gave birth to Jakey at her Fifth Avenue mansion. For the next four years, she raised him as part of the Astor family. She did not seem to appear very often in society until the end of 1913, when according to the press they were able to publish her first photograph since the Titanic disaster.

After this, she appeared more often in public and her activities were frequently reported in the press. In 1915, she remodelled her house on Fifth Avenue and this was made a feature article in the New York Sun. There were also many articles about her eldest son. Madeleine Astor died of a heart ailment at her mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 27, 1940, at the age of 46. She was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City, in a mausoleum with her mother.