Madonna has praised her children for stepping up to support her while she suffered a health scare last month.
In June, the “Vogue” singer, 64, developed a “serious bacterial infection” which saw her admitted to hospital and spending several days in intensive care.
She later confirmed she was “on the road to recovery” and recuperating at home, after being forced to postpone several dates of her Celebration world tour.
On Sunday (30 July), Madonna shared a series of photos to Instagram showing her posing with and hugging her son David, 17, and daughter Lourdes Leon, 26.
“Love from family and friends is the best medicine,” she wrote, explaining that she had been “reflecting” after being out of hospital for a month.
“As a mother you can really get caught up in the needs of your children and the seemingly endless giving… but when the chips were down my children really showed up for me,” she wrote.
“I saw a side to them I had never seen before. It made all the difference."
The singer has six children: Lourdes, Rocco, 22, David, daughter Mercy James, 17, and twins Stella and Estere, both 10.
Madonna added that “love and support” from her friends also got her through the difficult period.
The veteran singer also shared an image of her holding a Polaroid which she revealed was taken by Andy Warhol of Keith Haring wearing a jacket with Michael Jackson’s face painted on it.
She hailed the three artists as a “perfect triangle of brilliance” who “touched so many lives including my own”.
The singer thanked her manager Guy Oseary for the present, adding: “I sobbed when I opened this gift because I realised how lucky I am to be alive. And how fortunate I am to have known these people and so many others who are also gone.”
Singer is now planning to begin her tour in October— (Getty Images)
She continued: “And thank you to all my angels who protected me and let me stay to finish doing my work!”
At the time of her medical incident, Madonna had been scheduled to begin her greatest hits tour, titled The Celebration Tour, in Canada on 15 July.
She was forced to postpone the shows, and announced last month that she now planned to kick off the show in Europe in October. The North American leg of the tour will be rescheduled.
Billed as a "one-of-a-kind experience", the tour is also set to feature special guest Bob the Drag Queen, a winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
It will be Madonna’s first tour since her Madame X shows, which ended in 2020, though some performances were called off due to knee and hip injuries.
Additional reporting by Press Association.