Madonna, 66, Explains Why She’s ‘Not Afraid of Death’

Death doesn’t scare Madonna.

In a Feb. 27 post on Instagram, the 66-year-old Queen of Pop reshared a November 2024 note remembering her late mother Madonna Louise Ciccone, who died at age 30 in 1964 following a breast cancer diagnosis. The superstar also wrote about why she’s not afraid of death.

“When I was a child my mother died,” wrote Madonna. “Seeing her beautiful face in the open casket and kissing her red lips to say goodbye, left a haunting memory. A deep longing. A terrible fear of abandonment. I would follow my father everywhere reminding him that if he ever died I wanted to be buried with him.”

“I became fascinated with cemeteries. I was not afraid of death because I knew this was the only way I could be with my mother again,” she continued. “As life went on I lost many people that I loved dearly, and came to look at death as kind of a doorway to eternal life.”

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Madonna, who shared part of the note in a grid post and the rest on her Instagram Stories, added, “Even when my lovers left me I saw it as a kind of death. When they hurt me I would have a ritualistic burial for them. I would bury my fear of abandonment before it could overtake me.”

The “Ray of Light” artist explained she “found solace visiting other people’s graves” in cemeteries and “trying to connect with the souls of all the lost ones.”

“I wanted to reassure them that they were not alone. None of us are. ‘We are all married to God.’ That’s what sister Mary Theresa always used to say to me. ‘I am the bride of Christ. I am the bride of love,'” she wrote.

“This sounded so romantic to me,” said Madonna. “I imagined I could tell her all my deepest secrets. ‘Bury your fear. Bury your fear,’ she would say to me. Then she would take my hand and we would walk amongst the dead, under the light of the full moon.”

Recently, the “Erotica” singer revealed she’s preparing to rerelease her 1994 album Bedtime Stories and also working on a sequel to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor with producer Stuart Price.

In December, she teased new music with a video of herself and Price working in the studio, joined by her boyfriend Akeem Morris, manager Guy Oseary and twin daughters Stella and Estere.

“These past few months has been medicine for my SOUL. Songwriting and making music is the one area where I don’t need to ask anyone for their permission.. i’m so excited to share it with you,” she wrote in an Instagram caption. “Who wants to hear new music in 2025!”