Pop icon Madonna says she is "on the road to recovery" after a serious bacterial infection forced her to postpone the first leg of her Celebration tour.

She spent several days in the intensive care unit in June before being released to recover in her New York home under medical observation. The singer has shared a statement saying she is thankful for the support of her friends and family and hopes to be able to honour her remaining tour dates.

"Love from friends and family is the best medicine," she said. "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.
So did the love and support from my friends."

 

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She was scheduled to kick off the first  leg of her Celebration tour in Vancouver on July 15, but her tour manager Guy Oseary informed fans in a statement on June 28 that the singer would be unable to perform for the foreseeable future, adding that though a full recovery was expected, the primary focus in the coming days would be her health.

She is now expected to begin the European leg of the tour on October 14 in London's O2 arena, where she will play four shows. The European tour will run from October to December and pass through Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and the Netherlands before returning to London for two final shows.

She will then move on to what would have been the second North American leg 0f the tour, starting in New York on December 13 and finishing in Mexico City on January 30.

The new dates for the first leg of the North American tour from Cleveland to Las Vegas have not yet been announced.

Madonna sustained a serious hip injury during her previous Madame X tour, which resulted in a hip replacement surgery in late 2020.