[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
This one has stopped us in our tracks. Florence Welch, the otherworldly voice behind Florence + The Machine, is opening up about a terrifying and traumatic ordeal.
In a Saturday interview with The Guardian, Florence revealed that a previously-undisclosed medical emergency that caused her to abruptly cancel several tour dates in 2023 was, in fact, an ectopic pregnancy. And not just any ectopic pregnancy, but one that nearly ended her life. For real.
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She explained in the interview:
“The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death. I felt like I had stepped through this door, and it was just full of women, screaming.”
Whoa.
Florence, immediately 39, explained that the experience unfolded just before her 37th birthday. And although she had emergency surgery that ultimately saved her, the road there was gut-wrenching… and dangerously close to a tragedy.
Even more shocking? She actually performed a show in the midst of experiencing the near-fatal miscarriage. Seriously. She said:
“Women! It’s funny. I took some ibuprofen and stepped out on stage.”
What!!! Wild. And so scary! She was in pain, and bleeding, and yet… she went on stage. Jeez!
She explained that she did so because she didn’t initially understand just how serious things were even despite suffering through the pain and bleeding:
“I think, because it was my first time being pregnant, and it was my first miscarriage, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve heard this is part of it.’ I spoke to my doctor, and they are not generally dangerous. Devastating, but not dangerous.”
And indeed, it wasn’t until after that show that things took a truly dire turn. The ectopic pregnancy ruptured her fallopian tube, which suddenly became a VERY serious medical emergency. It’s one that can lead to internal bleeding and death if not treated immediately. Welch recalled what happened — er, nearly happened — after that:
“I had a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen. If I’d got on that plane [to go to the next show], I’d have come off on a stretcher. Or worse.”
And just like that, everything changed. She was rushed into surgery, her fallopian tube was removed, and when she returned home from the hospital, the full emotional toll finally anthem her in waves. She recalled:
“I think the sound that came out of me was like a wounded animal or something. And then, that was that. Ten days later, I was back on stage.”
TEN. DAYS. LATER.
Florence has always been known for her poetic vulnerability and raw emotion, but this brings a whole new dimension to her work. Especially as she channels her pain and healing into her next album, Everybody Scream, which will debut on Halloween.
To that end, the recording musician summed up how getting back into the swing of making track really helped her:
“Working again helped me. It was like little lanterns in a fog. I could just pick my way through.”
Well said — but still, what a scary ordeal. We’re sending Florence so much love and light!
To learn more about postpartum depression, CLICK HERE or HERE.
[Image via Florence Welch/Instagram]
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