Madonna stunned fans on the latest leg of her Rebel Heart world tour, when she appeared to call her ex-husband Guy Ritchie a “c***” in an on-stage rant.

The 57 year old pop icon, who is currently locked in a custody battle with Ritchie over the living arrangements of their 15 year old son Rocco, surprised the audience at her Nashville gig on Wednesday night with her foul-mouthed outburst.

She was responding to a fan who had shouted a proposal of marriage to her from the audience, when she said “I'm looking for a husband, not a c***. I already married a c***.” How lovely.

MadonnaMadonna seemed to describe her ex-husband Guy Ritchie by using the 'c word'

Later the same evening, she posted a close-up picture of her face on Instagram, with the words ‘Protection we all need it” superimposed on her cheek. She captioned the snap: “Now more than ever… evenheartsmadeoutofsteelcanbreak.”

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She and her ex-husband Ritchie, the director of movies such as Sherlock Holmes and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, clashed in court just before Christmas over where Rocco would be living. The teenager had been on tour with his mother at the back end of last year, whereupon he suddenly left in December and went to live in London with his father, apparently over an argument about his mobile phone.

Now more than ever............ evenheartsmadeoutofsteelcanbreak. ?#rebelheart @mdnaisindestrctable

A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on

A lawyer representing Ritchie said that his son “has expressed very clearly that he does not want to return to New York”, where Madonna was spending Christmas. Though the judge in the case ruled that Rocco should return to the States and speak with his mother before making a decision, he has yet to do so and remains in London.

Over Christmas, with the courts unavailable to them, the battle spilled over into some petty rival photo-sharing via Instagram as Madonna and Ritchie seemed to compete over who was having the better festive period.

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