Madonna says her kids’ ‘enthusiasm’ kept her going while on tour after ‘near death’ hospitalization

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Madonna may be the reigning Queen of Pop, but she’s a mother first.

As the “Vogue” singer approaches her 80th show on her “Celebration” tour, she took a moment to appreciate how much her six children have helped her get to this point after being hospitalized last year before the tour began.

“I need to acknowledge my incredibly talented children who carried me through,” Madonna wrote on her Instagram page on Thursday, adding that each of them has brought “their own unique talent to the stage.” She also wrote that their “enthusiasm kept me going.”

Her post included a series of photos of her children performing with her on stage as well as some behind-the-scenes moments.

Madonna’s children figure prominently in her “Celebration” tour. Her daughter Mercy James, 18, plays the piano, delivering a beautiful mid-show rendition of her mother’s song “Bad Girl” off the 1992 album “Erotica.” David Banda, her 18-year-old son, plays guitar in the show, while her 11-year-old twins Stella and Estere act as DJ and runway model during the “Vogue” sequence.

In Madonna’s last tour, 2019’s “Madame X,” her oldest daughter Lourdes Leon appeared as the sole dancer in a video centerpiece set to the singer’s 1998 classic track “Frozen.” She also shares son Rocco Ritchie, 23, with director Guy Ritchie.

“Rehearsals began over a year ago with almost a 2 month break waiting for me recover from a near death experience,” she wrote on Thursday. “They never stopped practicing. They never stopped cheering me on and supporting me.”

Madonna said her kids all continued going to school while they pushed through rehearsals, an achievement she is “so very proud of.” Also on Thursday, David and Mercy posted to their respective Instagram Stories in what appeared to be graduation garb, marking their graduation from high school.

“If all of them choose something different later in life, they will never forget this year of blood, sweat, and tears,” Madonna wrote at the end of her post this week. “Nor will I.”

Last June, Madonna’s friend and longtime manager Guy O’Seary announced she was in the ICU after developing a “serious bacterial infection.” CNN later reported that the pop icon was released from the hospital days later, recovering at home.

She kicked off her “Celebration” tour in October in London after a delay due to the health scare.

During a December tour stop, she told the audience that she was put into “an induced coma” while hospitalized and that she “pulled through” by thinking, “I’ve got to be there for my children. I have to survive for them.”

Madonna will perform her 80th “Celebration” tour show on Friday in Mexico City.

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