Madonna faced her mortality head-on during a moment of reflection at her first Celebration Tour show in Los Angeles on Monday night.
The 65-year-old music icon paused her Kia Forum performance to remember her shocking health scare in June 2023, when she was rushed to a hospital after being found unconscious as a result of what was later determined to be a serious bacterial infection.
The singer was taken to the ICU and had to be intubated, and later revealed that she was placed in a medically induced coma as she fought for her life despite suffering from lung and kidney failure.
Despite her “near-death” experience, Madonna remained defiant.
‘This show every night is not that hard on me physically. “It’s hard for me emotionally because I’m really telling you my life story,” she told the audience, according to just jared. ‘My heart is on my sleeve. I’ve fallen off many horses and broken many bones… but nothing can stop me.’
Madonna, 65, said “nothing can stop me” at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on Monday as she recalled her “near-death” health scare when she was rushed to the ICU and intubated in June 2023 after from suffering a deadly bacterial infection; photographed in October in London
Madonna was making the first Los Angeles stop of her Celebration Tour. She said the first word she spoke after waking up from an induced coma was ‘No!’
Madonna went on to reveal the first word she allegedly said after waking up from her four-day coma: ‘No!’
‘I’m pretty sure it was God who said to me, “Do you want to come? Do you want to come with me?”‘ To which she replied, ‘No!’
The Into The Groove singer revealed that one of the doctors who treated her during her health scare was in the audience that night and recalled how he guided her through her difficult recovery period after she was discharged from the hospital.
‘I called every other day and asked (my doctor) why I didn’t have any energy and when was I going to get it back? When would I feel like myself again? When can I go on tour again? she remembered.
‘The only thing he said was: “Go out in the sun”… It was very difficult for me to walk from my house to the backyard and sit in the sun. “I know it sounds crazy, but it was hard,” she admitted. “It’s strange to finally not feel like I was in control, and that was my lesson… to let go.”
The singer (born Madonna Ciccone) credited her six children with helping her recover and be in front of an adoring audience again.
“My kids are what really helped me get ahead because they worked so hard,” he shared. ‘I didn’t want to disappoint them, so I just set a date. And that date became a reality.”
During a previous tour in Brooklyn in December, the dance music pioneer joked that she had to “almost die to have all my kids in one room.”
She shares her daughter Lourdes, 27, with her ex-boyfriend and fitness trainer Carlos León, and her son Rocco, 23, with her ex-husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie.
Madonna later adopted her 18-year-old son David Banda; her daughter Chifundo ‘Mercy’ James, 18; and her twin daughters Stella and Estere, 11 years old.
‘I’m pretty sure it was God who said to me, “Do you want to come? Do you want to come with me?”‘ To which she replied, ‘No!’; Photographed Monday in Los Angeles with comedian Eric André (left)
She revealed that a doctor who treated her was at Monday’s show. She said she would call him to ask him when she would finally have more energy while she recovered, but he would tell her to just “get out in the sun”; seen on Monday in Los Angeles
He thanked his children for helping speed up his recovery; photographed in London in October
Later on Tuesday, Madonna shared some photos on stage from her Monday night show on Instagram.
“Last night was… unforgettable,” she wrote, while revealing that comedian Eric André had joined her on stage, where he proceeded to drive the audience wild.
“Thank you,” he wrote while tagging the comedian and actor. She appeared with curly blonde pin-up hair, a black bustier, and fishnet stockings with pointy silver heels as she sat next to him while apparently judging some kind of scorecard contest.
The concert turned out to be a family affair, as Madonna was accompanied by her daughter Estere (left) and son David (right).
He suffered acute septic shock on June 24, according to Online radarsand first responders were reportedly able to revive her with Narcan.
The substance is traditionally used to treat people suffering from opioid overdoses, but it can also help revive someone suffering from septic shock.
At her Brooklyn show, Madonna said her “lungs weren’t working” and her “kidneys were failing,” and claimed there was a 40 percent chance she wouldn’t survive.
However, she was on the road to recovery just days after being rushed to the hospital, and the pop icon appears to be doing as well as ever.