In recent years, nothing has appeared more en vogue than female artists bringing their current (or former) man candy on stage—just ask Taylor Swift, Zooey Deschanel, and most recently, the Queen of all things trending, Madonna.
Kicking off her North American leg of her “Celebration Tour” in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday, Dec. 13, Madonna, 65, brought her 30-year-old boyfriend Josh Popper on the Barclays Center stage to serve as a judge while she performed her iconic hit “Vogue.”
The couple—who debuted their relationship back in February via Instagram—lovingly sat next to one another and held up score cards, judging the tour’s dancers as they rocked some truly sensual moves on a makeshift catwalk. When they weren’t fanning the performers with their score cards, the pair could be seen swaying back and forth, dancing to the music, and even sharing an onstage kiss.
Popper also made a quick concert appearance in an on-screen video played while Madonna performed her 1992 hit, “Erotica.”
While Popper’s onstage appearance was certainly a surprise of sorts, he is not the first person to help Madonna score her dancer’s moves while she performed. During a slew of European tour stops, Madonna was also joined onstage by the likes of Debi Mazar, Donatella Versace, Julia Fox, Diplo and FKA Twigs, just to name a few.
Madonna’s five children also joined her onstage in London to help her launch her tour, which will include 79 North American stops before finishing up in Mexico.
The entertainment icon met Popper after he trained her son, David Ganda, at his New York City boxing gym, Bredwinners, as first reported by The Daily Mail. After the pair hard-launched their relationship on Instagram in February, Madonna was spotted at one of Popper’s boxing matches and appeared in a series of photos posted to Popper’s Instagram—his arm placed lovingly around Madonna, who was dressed in all black.
“Another W for the books!!” Popper captioned the Instagram post. “I (want to) thank my coaches, my team, and my Bredwinners family for pushing me to be my best in and out of the ring. I got some good people by my side.”
Two months later, the pair attended a piano recital together.
From Taylor Swift changing her lyrics to pay homage to “the guy on the Chiefs” to Madonna and her beau’s onstage PDA, 2023 is undeniably the year of public, earnest, cringe-free love and we are here for it!
