Strictly’s Sarah Hadland, 53, says she ‘refuses to be invisible in her 50s’ as she prepares to become Madonna for Icons Week: ‘Age doesn’t mean anything!’

Madonna once said that “the world refuses to celebrate women over 45” and has addressed ageism in the industry numerous times.

Now Sarah Hadland has channeled her inner Material Girl as she says she refuses to ‘become invisible at 50’ and has ‘no time’ for ageism.

The actress will dance the Cha Cha to Madonna’s Like a Prayer for Strictly Come Dancing’s Icons Week on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of the show, Sarah said: ‘A lot of women feel invisible in their 50s.

“I think it’s changing a little bit, it’s improving.

“If there’s one thing I want to do, it’s make people realize that age doesn’t mean anything.

‘I think we really need to rethink this idea of ​​what people should be doing at what age, I just don’t have time for it.

“I think I’m going to do whatever I want until I can’t do it anymore.

“So I hope that if there’s someone the same age as me who watches this, he or she feels inspired to just get out there, regardless of what other people think.

“I think if I can inspire people to do something they don’t feel confident in, that would be great.

‘I think you feel super fit when you do this. I thought I was quite fit before because I run a lot of long distances, but this is something else, this is something completely different.

“You feel like a little spring lamb.”

Last year, Madonna, 66, hit back at those who criticized her performance at the Grammys, calling the attacks “ageism and misogyny.”

In a statement on her Instagram, she said: “Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that pervades the world we live in.

‘A world that refuses to celebrate women over 45 and feels the need to punish her if she remains strong-willed, hardworking and adventurous.

“I like to do the groundbreaking work so that all the women behind me can have an easier time in the years to come.”

Sarah said she saw Madonna live in the 1990s and has inspired her ever since.

‘I went to see Madonna at Wembley in the early 1990s and she was amazing.

“And this was when not many women were doing these big shows.

“She was one of the first people to be a big, global pop star who went into stadiums and blew everyone away.

And the choreography, I mean, it’s so connected to Strictly because I feel like she was the first female pop star to dance the way she did, because she was a real dancer.

“There was some footage online recently of her in rehearsal, and her backup dancers are about 20 years old. How old is Madonna now? She just looked the same as her.

‘She was a great choreographer and you just think, “Oh, you’re great.”