Madonna says becoming a ‘soccer mum’ made her feel ‘depressed'

'I thought, ‘I’ve got to make friends and I’ve got to meet people’'

Madonna has revealed that becoming a "soccer mum" while living in Portugal made her feel "depressed" and as if she had "no mates".

In 2017, it was reported that the singer had moved to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, so that her youngest son David Banda could train in the Benfica football team youth academy.

While Madonna thought the transatlantic move was going to be "fun and adventurous", she soon realised that she was not suited to the lifestyle change.

"I went to Lisbon to be a soccer mum, which is a crazy story I know, that's the last thing you expect from a controversial gal like myself," the 60-year-old told Trevor Nelson during an MTV live-streamed interview earlier this week.

"So I went there, and I thought it was going to be like super fun and adventurous, but then I found myself going to school, picking up kids, and going to soccer matches and really being 'Netty no-mates', and I got a little bit depressed."

The pop icon explained that she felt she needed to make friends and meet new people in order to improve her mental state.

"I started to meet people and most of the people I met were artists," she said.

This led to the development of her latest album, Madame X, the star's first studio release since her 2015 album Rebel Heart.

On Thursday 18 April, Madonna released a new song called "Medellin", from the forthcoming album.

In 2015, the singer opened up about suffering from "extreme anxiety" when songs from her Rebel Heart album leaked online the year prior.

"It started making me second-guess everything," she told LA Times.

The singer is due to perform two songs at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, which is scheduled to take place on 18 May in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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