Madonna is celebrating the opening of her Celebration concert tour following her recent health scare.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Madonna, 65, said on Saturday, October 14, during the show at London’s O2 Arena, per Deadline. “Neither did my children, that’s why I woke up with them all around me.”
She continued: “I forgot five days of my life — or my death. But the angels were protecting me. If you want to know my secret, how I survived, I thought, ‘I’ve got to be there for my children. I’ve got to pull through for them.’”
Madonna used her impassioned speech to introduce an acoustic cover of Gloria Gaynor’s song “I Will Survive.” After singing the line, “Did you think I’d lay down and die?” Madonna paused to address the crowd. “Well, did you?” she quipped.
Madonna’s set also included special onstage moments with her children. Daughters Lourdes, 27, Mercy, 17, and twins Stella and Estere, 11, made special cameos alongside her son David, 18. (Madonna, who shares Lourdes with ex Carlos Leon, also coparents son Rocco, 23, with ex-husband Guy Ritchie.)
“Thank you LONDON! Opening Night,” Madonna gushed via Instagram several hours later on Sunday, October 15. “An Evening I will never forget 🇬🇧♥️.”
Madonna pushed back her tour dates earlier this year after she suffered a serious bacterial infection. Us Weekly confirmed in June that the Queen of Pop had been hospitalized. Madonna was discharged several days later as she focused her efforts solely on her recovery.
“Although Madonna is looking forward to getting back to work as soon as possible, she’s also taking her recovery seriously and isn’t going to rush anything because she is focused on her health above all else,” a source exclusively told Us in July. “She has an incredible support system around her and appreciates all the love she’s received. It’s a work in progress but she’s feeling confident and better every day.”
Weeks later, Madonna praised her children for stepping up in light of her medical challenges.
“Love from family and friends is the best medicine. One month out of the hospital and I can reflect,” she wrote via Instagram on July 30. “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. I saw a side to them I had never seen before. It made all the difference.”
She concluded: “And thank you to all my angels who protected me and let me stay to finish doing my work!”
