'Living For Love' hitmaker Madonna has claimed her 2012 tour was more painful than her high-profile tumble at the BRIT awards.

The 56-year-old singer fell down a set of stairs during a performance of her single 'Living For Love' at the event at London's O2 Arena last month, but she insists the hurt she suffered was nothing in comparison to the rough and tumble of her 'MDNA' tour in 2012.

She told 'The Jonathan Ross Show': ''It was pretty dangerous. I got punched a lot. What's a little fall off the stage compared to my last tour? Seriously. I got punched all the time.'' Meanwhile, Madonna recently claimed she was not seriously hurt at the BRITs because she knows how to fall safely - and because a ''guardian angel'' was looking out for her''.

She explained: ''I have core strength, and I know that saved me. That and my guardian angels. I believe that there's the physical world and the metaphysical world and I do believe that they are intertwined - as above, so below.

So I think both were at work in the protection of me.'' And the singer said her heart was beating so fast at the time, she didn't have time to stop and think about the incident. She said: ''I just remember falling backward, and I hit the back of my head.

But I had so much adrenaline pumping, and I was so taken by surprise that I just was, OK, I have to keep going. So I just got back onstage and I just kept going.''