Madonna posts candid Instagram selfie showing off hairy armpit

The pop icon tagged the image 'Long hair... Don't care!!!!!!'

Madonna holds up her right arm to reveal her unshaven armpit (Madonna/Instagram)

Always one to be a bit different, Madonna has renounced the #nomakeup selfies of recent days and instead posted a candid picture on Instagram showing her hairy armpit.

In a seeming bid to promote female body confidence, the cultural icon on Friday tagged the selfie: “Long hair...... Don't Care!!!!!! #artforfreedom #rebelheart #revolutionoflove.”

The #nomakeupselfie trend has been used to raise awareness of breast cancer, with funds donated to Cancer Research UK.

But it was actually started as a separate campaign by author Laura Lippman, who tweeted a bare-faced image of herself in support of 81-year-old actress Kim Novak, whose looks were criticised at the Oscars in February.

Madonna’s latest offering would seem to suggest that she too thinks that women should be less hard on themselves.

Then again, the pop queen is not adverse to a filtered, pouty pic…or ten. On Friday she also posted an image of herself seductively holding a cigarette up to red-stained lips.

And earlier in the week she outed herself as a Game of Thrones fan, dressing up as the “mother of dragons” Daenerys Targaryen - played by Emilia Clarke in the hit HBO show.

Ms Clarke told The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon that she thought she was “dreaming” when Madge asked if she could borrow her khaleesi costume to wear during the Jewish festival of Purim.