Madonna tears up about ICU stint: ‘It’s a f***ing miracle I’m here’
Madonna performs during opening night of The Celebration Tour at The O2 Arena on October 14, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Live Nation)
Madonna shed tears during her Celebration Tour show in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday night (22 October) after opening up to fans about her ICU stint earlier this year.
The pop idol was playing the sixth show in her UK and Europe tour when she became visibly emotional and cried while speaking about her hospitalisation over the summer.
The “Like A Virgin” singer left the entertainment world in a state of shock in June when she was sent to hospital for several days with a “serious bacterial infection”.
News of Madonna’s illness came just weeks before her Celebration Tour was originally due to begin, forcing her to put the show on hold for a few months until she, thankfully, made her full recovery.
The tour finally kick-started on 14 October in London’s O2 Arena, delivering a jaw-dropping spectacle to patient fans, with a journey through the Queen of Pop’s legendary music career, with special appearances from her children and some celebrity guests.
On Sunday night, Madonna took a moment to remember the rough patch she went through earlier this year.
“I was given another chance so I’m very grateful for that,” she said in a shaky voice.
“I don’t feel very well right now but I can’t complain because I’m alive. Thank god for my children and all of you and all of your support.”
Being met with deafening screams from the sold-out crowd, she continued: “Less than four months ago, I was in the hospital and I was unconscious and people were thinking, predicting that I might not make it…it’s a f***ing miracle I’m here right now.
“My mother, she must be watching over me. She said, ‘Girl, it’s not your time to go.’”
Madonna also briefly touched on her hospital run at the Celebration Tour’s opening night, telling the lucky London audience: “I didn’t think I would make it, and neither did my doctors.
“That’s why I woke up with all of my children sitting around me.
“I forgot five days of my life or my death, I don’t really know where I was. But the angels were protecting me. And my children were there. And my children always save me, every time.
“If you want to know how I pulled through and how I survived, I thought, I have got to be there for my children. I have to survive for them.”
If you hadn’t heard about Madonna’s ICU visit, you would never have known the triple-threat had been sick.
Fans and critics have agreed that her Celebration Tour set is undeniably iconic, including a 45-song setlist, a heart-wrenching tribute to friends lost to AIDS, and an appearance from RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bob the Drag Queen.
The music legend is next set to play sold-out dates in Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, and The Netherlands before she embarks on the North American leg of her Celebration Tour just before Christmas.
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