Madonna marked Lourdes Leon’s 30th birthday by revisiting the difficult delivery that made her a mother. Her tribute recalled the medical emergency inside a Los Angeles hospital and the news crews gathering outside.
The 68-year-old singer shared the message on Instagram on Oct. 14, accompanied by photographs and videos spanning her daughter’s life, according to PEOPLE.
Lourdes was born in 1996 during Madonna’s relationship with fitness trainer Carlos Leon. She is the eldest of the singer’s six children.
“Happy Birthday My Lolita!” Madonna began. She wrote that trying to put their entire story into words would bring her to tears.
After 18 Hours of Labor, Doctors Performed an Emergency C-Section
Madonna recalled that Lourdes’ chin was tilted upward during labor and that her daughter had become stuck. After 18 hours, she said, the baby’s heartbeat began slowing, leaving “an emergency C-section” as the only option.
Outside, her first child’s arrival had become a news event. Madonna remembered helicopters and television crews overhead while she was on the hospital’s top floor. The Los Angeles Times counted 11 television trucks with satellite towers outside the hospital in its contemporary coverage.
An Associated Press report published the following day identified the facility as Good Samaritan Hospital. Spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said Madonna, Lourdes and Carlos were resting comfortably. Television crews also heard from pediatrician Paul Fleiss as he left the building.
Both Parents Shared Photographs From Lourdes’ Childhood
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Madonna’s birthday collection included a Polaroid of herself breastfeeding Lourdes as a newborn, Entertainment Weekly reported. Other images followed her daughter through childhood and her teenage years, while clips showed her singing as an adult.
In the caption, Madonna described their connection as “Biblical.” She imagined asking God to explain their bond and being told to look in the mirror, comparing herself and Lourdes to two sides of the same coin.
“I would risk it all on you,” she wrote, before encouraging her daughter to hold onto her identity, her dreams and the love she came from.
Carlos posted a separate video montage of childhood photographs. According to HOLA!, his 11-year-old son helped him assemble the slideshow. The actor and former trainer used the collection to celebrate memories from across his daughter’s life.
Her Message Returned to the Daughter Who Inspired ‘Little Star’
Madonna’s caption also referenced “Little Star,” the song she dedicated to Lourdes on her 1998 album Ray of Light. Its language about remembering who you are and where you come from reappeared in the birthday message.
She wrote the song with Rick Nowels, whose collaboration with her began after a chance encounter in a department store. In a 2015 interview with SongwriterUniverse, Nowels recalled shopping for a tie at Barneys in New York before the 1997 Grammys when he spotted Madonna.
He introduced himself and praised her songwriting, leading to a meeting in Los Angeles a few weeks later. They wrote nine songs together. Three reached the finished album, the dedication to Lourdes, “The Power of Good-Bye” and “To Have and Not to Hold.”
Lourdes Later Asked Madonna to Write a Song With Her
This year, Lourdes joined her mother as a writer and vocalist on “The Test,” a track from Confessions II. The album arrived July 3, following an iHeartRadio and TikTok premiere event where they discussed the collaboration with Bob the Drag Queen.
Madonna had explained how it began in a conversation with Mel Ottenberg published by Interview on June 22. “She approached me about writing a song together as a way to heal our relationship,” she said.
During the iHeartRadio discussion, Lourdes described the affection and tension that can remain unspoken between a mother and daughter. Writing offered a way to approach feelings she found difficult to express directly, according to PEOPLE‘s account.
Both described becoming emotional during the process. Madonna remembered moments when she wanted to cry or embrace her daughter in the studio. “It was a very magical moment, and we both had to be vulnerable,” she said.