Madonna ‘home and feeling better’ after life-threatening illness
Pop icon Madonna is “home and feeling better” after a life-threatening health scare that led to days in intensive care.
The 64-year-old singer is back at her New York City home, where she’s “following doctor’s orders and resting” after suffering a serious bacterial infection, People magazine reported on Friday (AEST).
The update came after the illness forced Madonna to postpone the start of her upcoming The Celebration Tour, which had been due to start in Canada on July 15.
Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary revealed the health scare on Instagram. He said the star had developed a serious bacterial infection last Saturday that led to her spending several days in intensive care.
“Her health is improving. However, she is still under medical care,” he wrote on Thursday (AEST).
“A full recovery is expected.
“At this time we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour.
“We will share more details with you soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows.”
TMZ reported on Friday that Madonna’s hospitalisation this week came after she had been working long days in rehearsals and had ignored symptoms such as a persistent “low-grade fever” for up to a month.
She shared preparations for The Celebrations Tour with photos posted to Instagram.
“The calm before the storm,” she wrote on one recent photo.
Entertainment website Page Six reported that Madonna was rush to hospital after being found unresponsive in her New York City apartment.
“She had been putting in 12-hour days,” a source told the outlet.
“She was strenuously rehearsing and putting in the work.”
No updates have yet been given for Madonna’s 35-city Celebration Tour. It will feature music from the Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello-winning singer’s catalogue across four decades, with dates previously announced for North America and Europe in October and December.
Billed as a “one-of-a-kind experience”, the tour includes special guest Bob the Drag Queen, real name Caldwell Tidicue, and follows Madonna’s Madame X tour, which ended in 2020.
Not long after that, the Material Girl singer had hip replacement surgery for an injury sustained on tour.
“Let me be really honest with you – I used to be, like, a fitness, workout maniac,” she said at the time.
“You probably know that, right?… During my [2019 Madame X] tour – I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but I’m limping a lot – I was in more pain than I’ve ever been in in my life. I’m a bionic woman – I had hip replacement surgery.”
But she was determined to keep up her exhausting schedule.
“How do I stay in shape? It’s all in your head… It’s called will, it’s called no one’s gonna stop me, and how I stay in shape is no one’s gonna stop me,” she said.
“How I stay in shape is I don’t believe in limitations.”
Often referred to as the Queen of Pop, Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.
-with AAP
