Last summer, Madonna fans were concerned when a health emergency put her in the ICU for several days. In a June 28 Instagram post, the singer’s manager Guy Oseary revealed that Madonna was dealing with a “serious bacterial infection,” with her hospitalization forcing her to “pause all commitments,” including her ongoing “Celebration” tour. Thankfully, the “Like a Prayer” singer recovered and kicked off her tour just a few months later in October 2023. And while she’s been playing shows without issue for months now, Madonna just shared additional details about her “near-death experience”—and a conversation she says she had with God.
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During her first performance at the Kia Forum arena in Los Angeles on Monday, Madonna spoke about the severity of her health scare, Variety reported. She explained in the nine-minute speech that she’s dealt with some tough situations before, noting that she’s “fallen off a lot of horses and broken a lot of bones” and even has a titanium hip.
“I mean, the list goes on and on, but nothing can stop me,” the pop star said. She then told fans more about her recent “scary” experience and the induced coma she was in for four days. She claimed in her speech that the first word she said after waking up from the coma was “no.” According to Madonna, that was in response to something she heard God say to her when she was unconscious.
“I’m pretty sure that God was saying to me, ‘Do you wanna come with us? You wanna come with me? You wanna go this way?’ And I said, ‘No. No. No!'” Madonna said on stage, per Variety.
The singer went on to thank her physician, David Agus, MD, who she said “put up with so many entertaining phone calls.”
“When I was sick this summer and I literally couldn’t walk from my bed to the toilet, I would call him every other day and ask him why I didn’t have any energy. ‘When was my energy gonna come back? When was I gonna feel myself again? When could I go back on tour again?’ When, when, when, when, when, when, when?” the singer told fans. “And all he would say was, ‘Go outside in the sun.'”
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She did take Agus’ advice to get some vitamin D, which he told her would keep her kidneys functioning.
“I hate the sun, but I did it anyways and it was so hard for me to walk from my house to the backyard and sit in the sun,” Madonna explained. “I know that sounds insane, but it was difficult and I didn’t know when I could get up again and when I could be myself again and when I would have my energy back. It was a strange thing to finally not feel like I was in control. And that was my lesson to let go.”
Madonna also thanked everyone who took care of her—and stressed that she was determined to get back on tour, even while she was still in the hospital. She said that when Oseary asked when she wanted to get back on stage, she “took the oxygen out of [her] nose” and told him two months.
“I swear to God, I just said it. And sometimes you just gotta say [expletive], put that in the universe, and it happens,” she explained to the crowd.
Expressing gratitude to her children for helping her “pull through,” Madonna added that she didn’t want to let them or her fans down.
“I just set a date and that date became a reality,” the pop icon said. “And I didn’t wanna disappoint my fans. I never do.”