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Madonna’s recent illness has left friends wondering if this week’s serious health scare will be the thing that makes the youth-chasing star accept she isn’t Superwoman — and has to give herself a break.
“She is the one constantly pushing herself, but she has to realize that, while she is as good as the people she is working with, many of them are a fraction of her age and without her history of injuries,” one of the 64-year-old star’s friends told Page Six.
“Of course, there are other acts older than her still on the road, but they aren’t dancing and performing like she does.”
Page Six previously reported that Madonna had been putting in 12-hour days at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, in preparation for her Celebration Tour.
But that’s now on hold after the singer was found unresponsive over the weekend and intubated in ICU while suffering from a bacterial infection.
“But while this sort of illness could affect anyone of any age — and she certainly did not bring this on herself — it is also a reminder that she is as human and as frail as the rest of us,” the friend said.
Part of the concern, sources said, is that Madonna “has always been a perfectionist.”
Sources close to the singer say she had been insisting on ever-longer rehearsal times even against the judgement of those closest to her.
“She knows how much her fans been looking forward to this retrospective tour — it’s sold out around the world — and she wanted to give them her best,” the friend said. “Seeing how well the tickets had sold had really motivated her because it showed how much people wanted to see her.
“She really led the way for shows which were as aesthetically entertaining as musically and she doesn’t want to disappoint her fans. But she maybe has to learn that while she has incredible stamina, she demands too much from herself.’
There are also worries that she’s pushing too strenuously to hold on to her youth. Last year, a dancer friend told The Post that, “She works hard on staying younger looking because she likes to feel younger. She hangs around with younger people because she finds people her age stuffy and boring.”
Page Six has reached out to the singer’s rep for comment.
Madonna is now recovering at her home in Manhattan, where her sons David Banda, 17, and Rocco Ritchie, 22, have been seen coming and going. Eldest daughter Lourdes Leon, 26, has reportedly been by the singer’s side throughout her health ordeal.
The Celebration Tour was supposed to kick off July 15 in Vancouver but is now on hold.
A source close to the production said the rehearsal schedule had been to simulate the kind of hours Madonna would be working on tour.
“They were going in hard because they wanted to see if she could handle performing most nights — now they are going to have to rethink the whole schedule,” said the friend, adding that more “rest days” will need to be built in between tour stops.
Knee and hip problems saw Madonna cancel 14 of The Madame X Tour dates in 2019 and 2020. She also injured her coccyx during a performance after a chair was pulled out from under her on stage.
She wrote on Instagram at the time: “If only knees didn’t twist and cartilage didn’t tear and nothing hurt and tears never fell out of our eyes.”
The original dates had already been planned with some downtime worked in.
“First though, they need to wait and see how long it takes for her to recover,” the friend said. “Madonna has already made it clear she really wants to get back out there as soon
“If they need to take more dates out, they will,” the friend said. “The most important thing is she recovers well and doesn’t get ill again on the tour.”
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