Madonna Shouts Out Her Cousins She Hasn't Seen in Years at the Tampa Stop of the Celebration Tour

Madonna is known for bringing her family along on tour, but some special guests stepped out to show their support at her concert in Tampa.

When the pop icon, 65, brought her Celebration Tour to Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday, April 4, she gave a shout-out to her cousins in the audience. Not only was the hitmaker excited that her relatives from her mother's side of the family were in attendance, she shared that it had been over two decades since she'd seen them.

According to fan-recorded footage that was shared to YouTube, the Material Girl mentioned her cousins were watching the show while taking a moment on stage to reflect on the value of family. After speaking about her children and reflecting on her late mother, she said, "One other mention is that I have two cousins that are in the audience tonight."

The seven-time Grammy winner continued, "I'm not pointing them out. I'm just saying that my mother is their aunt and I haven't seen them in, I don't know, 25 years maybe."

"I hope that you enjoy seeing them tonight," Madonna added.

The moment felt especially moving, given how the pop superstar has opened up over the years about how much her mother's death caused by breast cancer in 1963 when she was just 5 years old has affected her.

Madge gave a nod to her relatives shortly after the portion of her show, which features tributes to her mom, Madonna Louise Ciccone and her son David's birth mother, among others, saying that it gives her "great pleasure" to see their faces on stage.

"This part of the show, and this part of my life, is extremely important to me," she said. "Everything that I have ever done in my life is meaningless compared to be a mother. I'm not trying to sound corny or anything because it is a full-time job."

After thanking her children David, Mercy, and twins Stella and Estere for performing every night during the tour, and noting how much she loves all of her kids (including the two eldest, Lourdes and Rocco, who don't join her out on the road), she continued to speak about how much family means to her.

The "Hung Up" singer said, "So, thanks for talking about family and motherhood and love. Right? Because that's what it's all about. That's why I'm here. That's why I still have this job because I love what I do. And also because you have been supporting me for 40 years, so thank you. Thank you for your love and support for four f---ing decades. I do not take it for granted."

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She then broke into an acoustic performance of her 1989 classic "Express Yourself."

Madonna's acclaimed, long-awaited Celebration Tour launched in October 2023 at London's O2 Arena with a spectacular two-hour set where she opened up about her road back to the stage following her hospitalization last year due to a serious bacterial infection.

After the European leg of the tour, which lasted throughout the fall, she kicked off her shows in North American with several dates in New York City and Washington D.C. in December. Her tour resumed in early 2024 and is set to continue across the U.S. until April 15. At the end of the month, she'll take the show to Mexico City for five dates.

The Celebration Tour will officially wrap up with a special, free concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 4 at Copacabana Beach.

According to a press release, the historic show sponsored by Itaú Apresenta "will be free of charge as a thank you to her fans for celebration more than four decades of her music over the course of the epic global run of the tour."