Madonna took to social media on Monday to defend herself after reports surfaced that the singer had suffered an onstage meltdown during a concert in Australia on Saturday night.
At the second stop of the Australian leg of her Rebel Heart tour in Melbourne last weekend, the 57-year-old singer sipped from a bottle of tequila, appeared to fall off of a prop tricycle, and made several emotional pleas to the audience.
The chaotic performance came just a couple days after the singer’s show at the Forum Theatre, where she kept fans waiting for close to three hours before eventually taking the stage at around 1 a.m., according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Someone please f—k me,” the singer said at one point during Saturday night’s show. “Somebody take care of me, please. Who is going to take care of me?”
In an Instagram post on Monday, Madge wrote that critics of her performance “don’t know the art of acting and playing a character.”
“I could never do any of my shows drunk or high,” she explained.”And yes underlying all of this is sexism and mysongony [sic] which proves that not only do we not get equal pay but we are still treated like heretics if we step out of line and think outside the box! Sexism is alive and kicking but I am #livingforlove.”
Madonna reportedly skipped several songs during Saturday night’s show, at one point remarking: “It’s all going pear-shaped up here.”
The singer, who is locked in a bitter custody battle with her ex Guy Ritchie over their 15-year-old-son Rocco, dedicated the song “Intervention” to her son, as pictures of him appeared on the arena screens behind her.
Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour continues at the Entertainment Center in Brisbane on Wednesday night and wraps up in Sydney on March 20.