Madonna says she had a “near-death experience” when she was hospitalized and induced into a coma last summer.
During a concert at the Kia Forum near Los Angeles on Monday night, the pop legend talked about a spiritual realization she had after contracting a serious bacterial infection in June 2023.
“This summer I had a surprise. It’s called a near-death experience,” Madonna told audiences, per Variety.
“It was pretty scary,” she said of the health emergency, which led to her being put her into a medically induced coma for four days.
“Obviously, I didn’t know for four days, because I was in an induced coma,” she explained. “But when I woke up, the first word I said was, ‘No.’ Anyway, that’s what my assistant tells me.”
Those words were profound for Madonna, who told fans, “I’m pretty sure that God was saying to me, ‘Do you wanna come with us? You wanna come with me? You wanna go this way?’ And I said, ‘No. No. No!’”
Later on during her nine-minute monologue, the singer reflected on her recovery, saying, “I didn’t know when I could get up again and when I could be myself again and when I would have my energy back.”
“It was a strange thing to finally not feel like I was in control,” she went on. “And that was my lesson to let go.”
Madonna previously told fans it was a “miracle” she was alive, let alone able to perform.
“I didn’t think I was gonna make it this summer, but … here I am,” she declared during a December show in Brooklyn.
Read Madonna’s full concert comments at Variety.