Madonna's new hairdo was a wig

The platinum blonde bob was hailed as the latest, sleek image from pop's queen of reinvention. Yet in reality, 48-year-old Madonna was simply wearing a wig.

Madonna fooled fans and pundits around the world when she sported the startling new look at a photography exhibition in Tokyo on Tuesday.

But despite reports of a £750 haircut, her new look turned out to be down to a hairpiece created for the filming of her next pop video.

Madonna revealed the truth the next night, when she took to the stage of the Tokyo Dome to perform her Confessions tour with her hair in its more familiar curly style. And she played up the joke when she wore the platinum wig for the last part of her set.

It is understood that the wig was created by Madonna's Beverly Hills hairdresser Andy LeCompte, who has been with her throughout her gruelling 60-date, four-month world tour.

The tour, which ended on Thursday, has reportedly made £110million, but - being Madonna - it wasn't without its controversy. The Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church both complained after she sang Live To Tell while wearing a crown of thorns and attached to a 20ft mirrored cross.

But she claimed: "It is no different than a person wearing a cross.

"I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."