Before the world turned its attention yesterday to llamas on the loose and the colors of that dress, it was focused on Madonna and her fall on stage at the Brit Awards Wednesday night.
The Material Girl was performing new single “Living For Love” at London’s O2 Arena when she was pulled backwards by her floor-length Armani cape, which failed to come undone at the necktie. Her fall was caught on camera and Vines like this one have been looped five million times.
After medic an attention, Madonna is now shedding rays of light on the incident. “My two lovely Japanese dancers, they basically strangled me off the stage,” she tells the British press, via the NME. “I could either be strangled or fall, and I chose to fall.”
She adds: “I didn’t hurt my butt but I hurt my head. I had a little bit of whiplash, I smacked the back of my head. I had a man standing over me with a flashlight until about 3am to make sure I was compos mentis.”
Madonna said some last-minute changes to her routine led to a bit of confusion on-stage. “I was told to tie my cape and start much further back and I had to walk further and everyone was worried my cape was going to slide off so they tied it really tight. So here I am marching in like the queen, I got to the top of the stairs and I pulled the slinky string and it wouldn’t come undone.”
Calling the incident “a nightmare,” Madonna says she won’t watch video of the fall. “I don’t want to watch it, don’t make me watch.”
But she will make changes to her wardrobe: “No more capes, cape fear is over.”
Madonna’s new album Rebel Heart is out March 6, and a tour announcement is expected on Monday.