Madonna was very ill… amid sepsis rumours, friends say recovery may take MONTHS, writes KATIE HIND

Lying sprawled on the floor with eyes closed and hand on her torso, Madonna looked exhausted and weak as she took a short break from rehearsals ahead of her world tour.

The photo, part of a set the pop legend posted to her 18 million fans on Instagram ten days ago, was accompanied by the caption: “The Calm Before The Storm…”

Just four days later, last Saturday, she was found unconscious in her New York apartment. Emergency services rushed the 64-year-old to intensive care, where she was intubated and put on a ventilator.

Her manager revealed on Wednesday — after what insiders claim was a fraught and emotional Zoom meeting between her team — that the star was suffering from a “serious bacterial infection” and her upcoming tour had been officially postponed.

Madonna’s inner circle refuses to give more details about what caused her hospitalization, but it has been speculated that it could be due to sepsis – a life-threatening reaction to an infection.

Although the singer is now back home and in a stable condition, friends fear she will need weeks, if not months, to recover from the trauma.

A well-placed source told the Daily Mail: ‘There was real concern for a short while. It was the wait for the doctors to figure out what was causing the problem. But once they identified it, we were reassured that the treatment would work.”

Meanwhile, an unnamed relative shared how they feared she might die.

The family member told the Mail Online: “For the past few days no one really knew which way this was going to go and her family prepared for the worst.”

One of Madonna’s six children, her 26-year-old daughter Lourdes Leon, hinted that her mother was on the mend when she posted a photo of herself on Instagram on Wednesday night, just hours after the illness came to light. a revealing corset and low-rise jeans.

While it’s not known when the photo was taken, fans took the post as a sign that at least her mother’s condition was definitely no longer critical.

Madonna’s close friend Rosie O’Donnell, the host and actress who starred alongside the singer in the 1992 film A League Of Their Own, assured fans she would recover, writing on her own Instagram page: “She’s feeling great. ‘

The strange and disturbing illness comes after sources in Madonna’s extended tour team revealed that the Like A Virgin singer was “before everything” rehearsing for her Celebration Tour – so named because it celebrates 40 years at the top of the company.

Some are convinced that a characteristic determination to put on an unparalleled show for her fans meant she missed warning signs about her health.

One source says of her days at the Nassau Coliseum, an indoor concert arena 50 miles from her New York apartment on Long Island, “She gave it her all. When Madonna wants to do something, she makes sure she does it right. That’s her first line. She wanted to thank her fans for their support over the past 40 years – and while she’s determined not to retire, it could be the last time some of them see her perform.’

On Saturday, when news of her condition reached her family, those close to the singer rushed to be with her.

Lourdes came by plane from Paris, where she had attended a party hosted by Vans trainers on the banks of the Seine, and went straight to her mother’s bedside.

Meanwhile, Madonna’s eldest son Rocco, 22, had just completed a week-long motorcycle trip with two friends in Transylvania, Romania. He wrote of his holiday: ‘What a crazy place and a crazy trip. First enduro tour [a motorbike race] and hopefully the beginning of many.’ He tagged his influencer friend Tommaso Gilardoni.

It seems the journey ended last Saturday – the same day his mother was found unconscious in her New York apartment.

Rocco, who spends most of his time in the UK with his father, the film director Guy Ritchie, rushed to the US to see her too and on Wednesday – when the news broke – he was seen outside her home, which looking out over the city’s Central Park, wearing a striped shirt and navy blue pants with a bag slung over his shoulder.

Madonna’s eldest adopted child David Banda, 17, was also seen nearby looking stoic, wearing a brown short-sleeved top and jeans, and listening to music.

The Daily Mail is told those kids have supported the star’s other three children, Mercy, 17, and 10-year-old twins Stella and Estere. The hospital drama prompted Madonna’s management team to hold a crisis meeting on Zoom last Sunday. Many of them had worked with her for decades and were deeply upset when they learned of her illness.

With the star herself unable to make the decision, they had to choose to postpone her long-awaited tour.

They were concerned that the opening show of the 84-night extravaganza in Vancouver on July 15 was only three weeks away. A source said: ‘The simple fact is that no one knew at this point how it would all end. Madonna was very ill and the worst is always feared in these situations.

“Realizing that someone is in intensive care is scary, so there was a lot of worry and dismay. These people had been her good friends for a while.

“But they had to be fair to the fans, and with the tour getting closer and closer, they made the decision to postpone almost immediately. So plans were set in motion.

“Even if she recovered quickly, she would be very behind on her rehearsal schedule and no one wanted to pressure her.”

Thankfully, sources close to the team said they were told within 24 hours of the tour being postponed that Madonna was out of the woods and on the mend – much to their relief.

They thought for a moment that maybe they wouldn’t have to postpone all tour dates after all, but late on Sunday night they realized they had no choice due to the long time it would take her to recover.

Despite this, they still insisted on not releasing a statement and instead kept the hospital visit a secret from her hundreds of thousands of fans who had bought tickets to see her on tour.

It took another three days for Madonna’s team to share the news, with manager Guy Oseary writing on Wednesday: ‘Her health is improving but she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected.

“At this point we will have to pause all commitments, including the tour. We will share more details as we get them, including a new tour start date and rescheduled shows.”

The tour would continue across North America until October, before running for four nights at London’s O2 Arena, with two more shows in December.

The London dates sold out in minutes in early February, with fans promising a show filled with her greatest hits.

In her latest Instagram post, Madonna gave fans an idea of ​​what to expect at the live shows. In addition to the photo of herself lying on the floor, the collection included more happy snaps, including a sassy shot of her wearing a police officer’s hat she’d paired with fishnet tights.

In another she was seen sitting by a piano in khaki shorts, while in another she was seen from behind in a smart black suit with longer reddish hair flowing behind her.

Madonna’s upcoming concerts come nearly four years after the launch of her Madame X tour, during which she had to cancel several shows due to knee and hip injuries.

When she announced the new tour earlier this year, she said, “I’m looking forward to exploring as many songs as possible in hopes of giving my fans the show they’ve been waiting for.”

Last year, she insisted she wasn’t ready to retire. She said in an interview: ‘I don’t even think about my age, to tell you the truth. I just keep going.

“Even when I performed almost my entire tour in pain, I had no cartilage left in my right hip and everyone kept saying, ‘You have to stop, you have to stop.’ I said, “I won’t stop. I’ll keep going until the wheels fall off.”‘

But with her 65th birthday in August, social media is awash with fans calling for her to hang up her microphone for the sake of her health.

But sources close to Madonna cite male musicians like Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John, all of whom are still performing – albeit with slightly less panache – as proof that the pop icon has only a few years to go . to the rhythm and swing of her unparalleled set list.