'Spoke to God': Madonna shares stirring account of near-death moment
During a five-night stint on her Celebration World Tour at Los Angeles's Kia Forum, Madonna shared her near-death experience resulting from a bacterial infection last summer. The music icon expressed gratitude to the medical team who assisted her during her "48-hour medically induced coma." Upon waking up, Madonna shared that her first word was "no," which she believes was in response to God's inquiry about joining the afterlife.
Why does this story matter?
Originally slated for a July start in the US, Madonna's Celebration Tour was delayed due to her health scare. The bacterial infection—with an unknown initial cause—reportedly escalated to a severe state. The tour finally commenced at London's O2 Arena with four shows in October, followed by a North American leg beginning in December in Brooklyn. It will conclude in April with five performances at Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes.
'God was saying, do you wanna come with us...'
Per Variety, in her nine-minute speech, Madonna candidly shared, "I have fallen off a lot of horses and broken a lot of bones. I have a titanium hip...but nothing can stop me." "This summer I had a surprise...it's called a near-death experience," she added. The pop singer recounted her assistant telling her: "The first thing I said was 'no,' and I'm pretty sure that God was saying to me, 'Do you wanna come with us?' And I said, 'No.'"
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She praised her doctor who guided her through the crisis
Madonna praised Dr. David Agus for guiding her through the health ordeal, recalling, "When I was sick 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 could I go back on tour again? When, when, when, when, when, when, when?" "And all he would say was, 'Go outside in the sun,'" she added.
'My children helped me pull through'
The 65-year-old superstar also thanked her children, some of whom joined her on stage during the performance. Mercy James (18) played piano for Bad Girl, while David Banda (18) accompanied her on Mother and Father on acoustic guitar. The Grammy winner added, "My children are the ones that really helped me pull through because they worked so hard and... I didn't want to let them down." "So I just set a date and that date became a reality," she concluded.