NEWSMadonna Not Addicted to Drugs Despite Alleged Life-Saving Narcan Injection, Backup Dancers Insist: 'Cannot See It'
Haters might be "Hung Up" on rumors claiming Madonna was on drugs at the time of her June 2023 health crisis, but her backup dancers are here to clear the air.
During a recent episode of David Yontef's podcast, "Behind the Velvet Rope," special guests Niki Haris and Donna De Lory clapped back at allegations Madonna had been administered Narcan to treat a drug overdose when she was found unresponsive on her bathroom floor last year.
Madonna's backup dancers insisted she's not on drugs.
As OK! previously reported, Madonna was allegedly administered Narcan — also known as naxalone — to resuscitate her last June, when her manager, Guy Oseary, confirmed she was rushed to the hospital with a "serious bacterial infection" and spent several days in the ICU.
While Narcan is commonly used to treat a narcotics overdose, it can also be used to reverse acute septic shock, which occurs when an infection is so severe that the patient's immune system can begin to inadvertently damage the body through its extreme responses to the infection.
The singer was reportedly administered Narcan in June 2023.
"I would definitely care if she's got an opiate, but, you know, here's the deal, [I] cannot see it," Haris admitted during the episode. "Don't wanna get into the gossip of it and if any kind of drug use was going on, it ain't from Madonna."
"She might have ran too hard and twisted her ankle, or put on some shoes that, you know, got a cut and got an infection and kept working on working through it anyway, with the blood coming out of her feet," she continued, listing potential other theories that could have led to a Narcan injection aside from substance abuse.
Madonna was found unresponsive on her bathroom floor in June 2023 before learning she had a 'serious bacterial infection.'
"Now, that sounds more like Madonna," Harris added, noting the Queen of Pop "wouldn't stop when hurt."
"She's saying, 'the body is 23,' when it's really 63. That sounds more like Madonna [than the use of a] drug," Harris declared of the "Frozen" singer, 65.
- Madonna Was 'Constantly Pushing Herself' Before Serious Illness: 'She Is as Human and as Frail as the Rest of Us'
- Madonna Health Shocker: Singer Spent 48 Hours in an 'Induced Coma' While Fighting Bacterial Infection
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De Lory agreed with her fellow backup dancer, stating, drug addiction "don't sound like the Madonna" she knows, adding a better explanation would be the "Material Girl" singer "pushing [herself] and having a goal and trying to get there and losing sight of the big picture of just [her] overall well-being."
Harris then chimed back in to express appreciation toward Madonna's team for stepping in and postponing her world tour to allow the "Back That Up to the Beat" vocalist to fully recover.
Madonna's health woes postponed her tour, though it has since resumed.
"Having the people go, 'You don't have to do this.' Thank God, somebody said, maybe it was a doctor said, 'You're sitting down for a minute. We shutting us down. Send everybody home because we're shutting us down,'" she shared.
"I'm so grateful because we know we've lost enough artists out there [who] have tried to push too hard," Harris explained, as she used Michael Jackson as an example of someone who kept going despite his body "saying, 'I'm tired, I'm not ready yet.'"
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"I'm grateful that she's got a team, or at least [people] around her, [to] go, 'Okay, no, we're shutting it down. She ain't ready yet," she expressed.
Doubling down on claims Madonna is a "drug addict," Harris sternly stated: "Nah."
