Okay, let’s be clear on one thing. Madonna has had some shoddy moments recently. She’s been late to concerts, crying on stage and under-performing generally.

But hell’s bells, she was in the middle of a clearly painful custody case over her son, Rocco.

Now the pack has turned its sights on what she wore to the Met Gala on Monday in New York.

• Met Gala 2016: the best and worst dressed
• Every look from the Met Gala red carpet
• Madonna slams ‘sexist’ on-stage drinking rumours

In summary, she was trussed like a mummy in tape, her breasts and butt were on show and she looked like Khaleesi from Game of Thrones in a lacy Givenchy outfit with black, thigh high sexy boots, her long blonde hair topped with giant jewelled headpiece.

Madonna’s Met Gala look from behind. Photo: Getty

Go Madonna. No one does red carpet better than her. This was, after all, Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology.

Her stylist Andy Le Compte said they styled her as a “future road warrior” with a “bold, wiry look”.

And she gleefully told the waiting cameras she couldn’t pee because of the tape that enclosed her gym-toned body.

Some called her slutty, said she should dress her age and that she looked like a hooker. She led worst-dressed lists everywhere.

Meanwhile, the pop icon shared a photo of herself on Instagram, legs spread, saying “No f***** to give”.

Personally, I couldn’t care less about what she wears but I strongly defend her right to wear it.

Madonna’s cheeky Instagram post. Photo: Madonna/Instagram

She works incredibly hard to maintain an amazing body. Why shouldn’t she flaunt it?

Just because she’s 57, should she throw out all of her wardrobe, head for frumpy shops and dress like Kate Middleton?

I don’t think so. Madonna has always been an icon – not because we all want to look like prostitutes in cone bras and black leather but because she’s a powerful woman who has been incredibly successful at what she does.

From her Isabella Peron era to her eye patch and her Marilyn Monroe-inspired persona, she has been a chameleon and an amazing inspiration since she first rocked into our world in the 1980s.

And do you know why I defend her right to be who she is? Because women have fought bloody hard to be who we are and wear what we want.

The singer has always pushed the boundaries. Photo: Getty

As a junior journalist, I got sent home on day one of my new job at the Evening Star in New Zealand because my skirt was too short – though it had been perfectly fine at the last newspaper I worked at.

It was the 1970s, for goodness sake. Of course my skirts were short.

Then they tried to send me home because I wore a tailored trouser suit. It was four degrees and snowing outside! I took a stand and said if they wanted me to work for them, then this is how I would dress. They caved in.

Madonna continues to fight on behalf of people like me who wish they could still wear the outrageous stuff and have her body – which defies logic, just like Ronnie Woods.

Leave her alone. She’s doing just fine! Those events would be plain dull without her to stick it up her critics by wearing what she damn well pleases.