It looks like Madonna is taking some strain of late, her current custody battle with former hubby Guy Ritchie causing the singer to break down on stage in Melbourne.

To make matters worse she was dressed as a clown at the time, and whilst she denies she was drunk onlookers say it looked as though she had buried a few before the show began.

The High Court in London was the scene of that hearing yesterday, 15-year-old Rocco sitting through six hours of legal argument.

The Daily Mail dishes the dirt:

While [she] chose to press on with her concert in Australia, her lawyers said she would ‘very much’ have liked to be in court and a giant image of her son appeared behind her as she sang.

Despite appearing a little unsteady and slurring her words at times, she said she wasn’t drunk but did have two dancers deliver her an alcoholic drink on stage.

One fan tweeted: ‘So far, Madonna is drunk and constantly missing cues.’ Another, Karla Corpuz, said ‘Madonna is drunk as f’, while others suggested she was ‘s***-faced’.

While at one point she broke down in tears over her difficulties with her son, the two-hour gig was also peppered with jokes and comedy skits…

The mother of four also reportedly burst into tears on stage in New Zealand this week, telling fans in Auckland: ‘There is no love stronger than a mother for her son. If I talk about him too much I might cry.’

Sounds like someone has a case of Mad Clown Disease – thanks, I’m here all day.

If anyone has watched the Oscar-winning doccie Amy you’ll know there’s one vital difference between the two – Amy Winehouse would gladly have done without all the fame, whereas Madonna will do anything to hang on to the last vestiges of hers.

[source:dailymail]