A mother's love. Madonna celebrated son Rocco's 23rd birthday on Friday, August 11 in an emotional Instagram post. The tribute featured an extensive reel of personal family photos of Rocco with his famous mom and siblings, soundtracked with not a Madonna track but The Beatles' 'Here Comes the Sun.'
"Happy Birthday Dearest Rocco," begins Madonna, who herself turns 65 next week, in the caption.
"From the day you were conceived, Life with You Has been an adventure." Rocco is Madonna's son with the pop icon's second husband Guy Ritchie. She and the Sherlock Holmes director wed four months after Rocco's birth in a lavish Scottish wedding in December 2000.
Throughout the reel, Madonna spotlights her eldest son's life-so-far: as an adorable infant and toddler carried by his mom, as a young boy bonding with his older sister Lourdes, now 26, a tween holding hands with younger adopted siblings David, Mercy, Stella and Ester, doing charity work in Africa, looking every bit the surly teen with a shaved head and sullen expression, and finally a handsome young man who looks just like his father Guy Ritchie. Madonna also uses the video to spotlight his paintings, posing in front of several of his artworks.
"From Your Pre Mature Birth to your love of Skate Boarding, Dirt Bikes. Break Dancing, Parkour, Graffiti and all Adrenaline Provoking activities!" Madonna's loving caption continues, then adding of his daredevil nature:. "You have made me worry— possibly more than any other person on the planet."
Madonna and Rocco were briefly estranged in 2015 as she and Guy — who divorced in 2008 — were engaged in a bitter custody battle, with Rocco ultimately staying with his father in London for Christmas. The high-profile exes amicably resolve the dispute in spring 2016, with Rocco splitting his time between the UK with his dad and the U.S with his mom, who has homes in New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere. As a young adult, he's devoted his time to developing his work as a painter — selling some artworks for five figures under the pseudonym of "Rhed."
"But You have taken the road less traveled by and that will make all the difference! Nothing gives me more Joy then to watch you grow as an artist!" Madonna writes. "To quote your favorite painter Lucian Freud—'What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince!' Keep Walking Down Your Own Road. I’m so proud of you!
While Rocco is the former couple's only biological child, Madonna and Guy adopted David Banda, born in the African country of Malawi, in 2006.
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Rocco was recently spotted outside his family's $30 million mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side — alongside Lourdes, 26, and David, 17 — as his world-famous mom recuperated from a serious bacterial infection that landed her in the ICU in late June and forced the postponement of her career-spanning Celebrations tour.
"My first thought when I woke up in the hospital was my children," she wrote in a July 10 post, her first since the ordeal began. She wrote in a subsequent post of her kids' support during the crisis: "As a Mother you can really get caught up in the needs of your children and the seemingly endless giving……….. But when the chips were down my children really showed up for me. I saw a side to them I had never seen before. It made all the difference."
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Last week she took her younger daughters Mercy, 17, and 10-year-old twins Stella and Estere to Beyonce's Renaissance Tour stop in the NYC area, and teased that the "rerouted tour schedule will be coming in the next few days," although new dates have not yet been announced.
