The Real Meaning Behind Madonna's New Tattoo

It's never too late, right? That's the motto that fits Madonna's newest piece of art. Instead of creating a new song or movie, the Grammy-award winning singer revealed to fans that at 62 years old, she got her first tattoo.

"Inked for The Very First Time" she captioned the Instagram post showing off the new ink, adding a writing emoji and the hashtag, "family." She included a slideshow of several pictures, which show everything from the initial tattoo planning with tattoo artist East Iz, to the process of getting inked, to the end result. The Material Girl received the tattoo at the Shamrock Social Club in Hollywood, per E! News.

Fans were understandably shocked by this news, considering it has taken the singer-actress decades to decide to ink her body. "Crazy how you have done everything else on the planet except get tattoos," one fan wrote in response to the new artwork. A fan account was stunned by the new piece, simply writing, "Omg madonna got a tattoo."

The tattoo may be small, but has a big significance in her life. Keep reading to learn the real meaning behind Madonna's new tattoo.

Madonna got the letters "LRDMSE" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, and fans were quick to realize what those letters meant. The letters are the initials of her six children: Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy, Stella, and Estere. Madonna shares Lourdes with personal trainer and actor Carlos Leon, and shares Rocco with Guy Ritchie, per The Sun. The "Vogue" singer adopted all of the rest of her children from Malawi: David in 2006, Mercy in 2009, and Stella and Estere in 2017.

While Madonna is private about her family life, she opened up to Today in 2019 about what motherhood means to her. "It's reminded me how precious time is... how each child requires attention and vigilance and guidance in a different way and really you have to be ready for anything," she explained at the time. "Children teach you, obviously. Everyone says that. First and foremost, they teach you to stop being obsessed with yourself because they're always there to throw a wrench into the works... Self-obsession [is] not allowed with children." She also added that she became better at parenting with each new kid.

When asked about adopting another kid in the future, Madonna was open to the idea. "Seven is a lucky number. And a psychic did tell me once that I'm going to have seven children. So, who knows?" If that happens, Madonna may end up with her second tattoo, in the form of a new letter.