Katie Piper revealed on Wednesday that she formed an unexpected friendship with an American pop legend after they reached out to her on Instagram.

Loose Women panellist Katie, 40, explained that while she and the seven-time Grammy Award winner have never exchanged words, they watch each other’s Stories.

Katie sweetly declared that her famous friend, who has also won two Golden Globe Awards, is her ‘role model’.

The women’s relationship began when Katie noticed that the icon, whose career spans six decades, had followed her on Instagram.

Speaking exclusively with The Sun of her strengthening bond with Madonna, 65, Katie said: ‘Yeah, it’s funny. She followed me first and I was like: “Oh!”, because I really love Madonna.’

Katie Piper, 40, revealed on Wednesday that she formed an unexpected friendship with an American pop legend after they reached out to her on Instagram

Loose Women panellist Katie explained that while she and the seven-time Grammy Award winner have never exchanged words, they watch each other’s Stories

Katie said: ‘Yeah, it’s funny. She followed me first and I was like: “Oh!”, because I really love Madonna … we look at each other’s Stories, send each other emojis’

Katie continued: ‘I really like the way that she lives her life. I find her… she’s unapologetic, she’s authentic so she’s a female role model to me. 

‘So, yeah, we follow each other online, we look at each other’s Stories, send each other emojis. It’s an unexpected online friendship, isn’t it?

‘Not actually DMs but we react to each other’s Stories, that kind of thing. But I think she’s a very powerful woman so she’s a big role model to women, I think.”

In May, Madonna concluded her twelfth concert tour entitled The Celebration Tour.

The tour took Madonna to over 81 dates and it grossed her almost a quarter of a billion dollars, making it the highest-grossing tour of 2024.

During the tour, Madonna performed a free concert in Rio de Janeiro which drew a crowd of over 1.6 million people.

This became Madonna’s largest crowd of her career and the largest crowd of all-time for a female artist.

After her tour concluded, Madonna reportedly restarted work on her previously announced biographical film. 

The project, is expected to have Inventing Anna actress Julia Garner at its helm and have the title Who’s That Girl?

In May, Madonna concluded her twelfth concert tour entitled The Celebration Tour, the highest-grossing tour of 2024 earning almost a quarter of a billion dollars

After her tour, which featured the biggest crowd for a female artist of all time, Madonna reportedly restarted work on her previously announced biographical film, Who’s That Girl?

The activist was spurred on to team up with Virgin Media O2 and Internet Matters for Find the Right Words after her daughter was approached by a stranger online.

The campaign is backed by leading charities Action for Children and Good Things Foundation, with brand new guides for families and a powerful film highlighting the difficulties parents can face in explaining online risks, watch here.

Katie – whose new children’s book, Together We Are Stronger, is out now – said: ‘It gives you advice and sort of language and tone on how to approach this conversation with your kids. And then the other guide, which me and my husband really need, is very practical.

‘It’s all about the parental controls, the privacy settings and all the different limitations that you can implement. I actually think that’s the barrier for a lot of parents. They don’t know how to sit down and have this conversation with their child, which is why this guide is so brilliant.’