MADONNA LAUNCHES ‘HARD CANDY’GYM IN MEXICO

Madonna flew to Mexico City on Monday (November 29) to open the first Hard Candy Fitness club, part of a global chain she and her business partners are unveiling around the world.

More than 700 guests, including most of the club’s new members and Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard, attended the opening, along with VIPs hand-picked by the 52-year-old pop music icon.

Named after her last album, the Hard Candy Fitness center is a partnership between Madonna, her manager Guy Oseary and Mark Mastrov, founder and CEO of 24 Hour Fitness — the world’s largest privately owned fitness center chain.

The Mexico City gym is set in a lavish, three-story, 3000 square meter (32,000 square foot) space in the Mexican capital’s exclusive Lomas Altas neighbourhood.

“I have a history with Mexico,” said Madonna, wearing a black and white-striped dress with boots. “I have a connection that I have always felt anyways because of my love and interest in Frida Kahlo.”

Madonna’s group said it expects in the coming months to open more fitness centers in Argentina, Brazil, Russia and other unspecified countries in Europe and Asia.

In other news, Madge said she is getting ready for another busy year in 2011 that will include a new movie and an album that would follow on the steps of her highly successful Hard Candy studio album.