TAKE IT EASY, MADONNA!

Friends fear the workaholic pop legend has been pushing herself too hard in an effort to keep up with younger stars

- MAXINE PETERS

HER work schedule was gruelling by anyone's standards: 84 concerts in 45 cities during a seven-month world tour. Yet Madonna has always been one to push boundaries and she's been working around the clock to gear up for her 40th anniversary Celebration Tour.

At 64, it could be her last tour and insiders say she wanted to make it a showstopper. She'd been putting herself through punishing 12-hour rehearsals six days a week - but in the end it all became too much.

Two weeks before the tour was supposed to kick off, the pop legend was found unresponsive in her New York apartment. Her longtime manager, Guy Oseary, shared on Instagram that she was rushed to the ICU after developing a serious bacterial infection.

She was intubated and put on a ventilator and discharged after six days.

"Her health is improving, however, she's still under medical care. A full recovery is expected," he said.

Sources say Madonna had been battling a fever for a month, but she declined to seek medical attention, putting her tour ahead of her health.

Her team has now scaled back the Celebration Tour, which was scheduled to kick off on 15 July in Vancouver, Canada.

"She was working overtime, but she clearly burnt herself out and people around her have been politely reminding her that she's not 45 anymore, let alone 25, a source told The Sun. "She needed to pace herself. Pushing herself so hard was extremely risky."

The queen of pop has long been known to be a workaholic, but her friends say she's been pushing herself even harder to keep up with younger stars. "Many of us feel the constant remarks about her age have put pressure on her to compete," the insider says. "So we are relieved that she's been forced to take time out and put her health first.