Madonna's Bad B-Day Break

Madonna celebrates 47th birthday by falling off horse, suffering broken collarbone, ribs, hand

By Joal Ryan Aug 16, 2005 9:15 PMTags

For most stars in the fickle music business, the bad break is hitting middle age. For Madonna, it's suffering bad breaks on her 47th birthday.

The still potent pop powerhouse broke a collarbone, fractured a hand and cracked three ribs Tuesday after she fell from a horse while riding on her London-area estate, publicist Liz Rosenberg confirmed to E! News.

Husband Guy Ritchie took the injured entertainer to an unnamed hospital, where she was treated and released.

Per Rosenberg, Madonna, her writer-director spouse and her two children were marking the 47th anniversary of the family matriarch's 1958 debut by spending the day in the English countryside. The celebration took a painful turn when Madonna, out riding with an assistant, was thrown from a horse that was new to her.

Of course, seeing as how riding is a relatively recent recreation activity for Madonna, just about every horse is new to her. Rosenberg told the Associated Press that the star's been in the equestrian way for about "four or five months." In July, London's Mirror gossiped that Madonna's conversion to riding was part of the Michigan-born singer's latest bid to, as it said, "reinvent herself as an English country wife."

Prior to the fall, the highlight of Madonna's summer vacation had been helping front the London portion of the Live 8 megaconcert in July. She was one of the few acts to also have performed on the Live Aid bill 20 years earlier.

It would behoove the era-defying entertainer to be a fast healer, if for no other commercial reason than the promotional road beckons. Her latest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, is due out in November.

When the AP. asked Rosenberg how Madonna's injuries would affect, if at all, the push for the new album, the rep said: "She's walking and talking. I don't know if she's going to be hanging from a disco ball anytime soon."