Becoming a soccer mum made Madonna feel ‘depressed’, she says

Motherhood can be a lonely place - especially when you make sacrifices for your child.

Madonna has admitted that she found it depressing when she moved across the world to be a "soccer mum" while her son pursed his sporting ambitions.

"My son wanted to be a soccer player. He was never going to have the right sort of training in America," the singer told Trevor Nelson in an interview with MTV. "We spun the globe and did a lot of research and found my top five academies for the boys to train, and Lisbon ended up being my favourite city of the options. "That’s how I became a soccer mum."

Madge and her son took off but she soon began to find the day-to-day routine tedious.

"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," she said.

It's a rare insight into the pop legend's family life. While Madonna could never be accused of being shy, she prefers to keep her children out of the spotlight. The 60-year-old is mum to Lourdes (22), Rocco (18), David (13), Mercy (13), Estere (six) and Stelle (six). Madonna has admitted that motherhood has helped her come to terms with her own mum's death. "I get to become the mom I never had. So, yeah, it's a very healing experience,' she said in 2017. Having kids has also caused her to mellow out, she said.

'Oh, I’m sure I’ve done provocative things just for the sake of provocation.

'Not so much now. Definitely, not since I have children."