Donald Glover says he had stroke, heart issue while touring last year
Donald Glover revealed details behind health issues that caused him to cancel his world tour last year.
During a performance at Camp Flog Gnaw (the annual Tyler, The Creator-conceived music festival) in Los Angeles on Saturday night, the Emmy and Grammy winner gave fans an update on his absence.
“I was doing this world tour, was having lots of fun,” the Stone Mountain native said at the festival, which was also streamed on Amazon Prime Video. “(I) really love seeing you guys out there, and I had a really bad pain in my head in Louisiana, and I did the show anyway. I couldn’t really see well, so when we went to Houston, I went to the hospital and the doctor was like, ‘You had a stroke.’”
He added: “The first thing I thought was like, Oh here I am still copying Jamie Foxx (who had a stroke in 2023). That’s really like the second thing. The first thing was like, I’m letting everybody down. … Everybody has two lives, and the second life starts when you realize you have one.”
The artist, formerly known as Childish Gambino, also revealed he broke his foot and had a hole in his heart, requiring surgery that led to him canceling his tour.
Glover began his “New World Tour” last summer, stopping at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on Sept. 1. During the show, he sounded hoarse and stated he was recovering from the flu. Shortly after, he canceled the entire tour, citing undisclosed medical issues.
The tour followed the release of his latest album “Bando Stone and the New World,” his last under the Childish Gambino moniker.
During an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year, he shared more about his decision to close his Childish Gambino chapter.
“The music is beautiful and amazing, but anything that’s industrialized is going to lose its soul on some level, so I just don’t want to make industrialized music anymore. I’ll always make music. I’ll put out a record. I don’t know how or with who. It’s not going to be under Childish Gambino anymore. I feel like that ship has passed.”
Earlier this month, the 42-year-old inducted Outkast into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
About the Author
DeAsia is a music and culture reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She focuses on the intersection of arts, culture and diverse communities, as well as how emerging social trends are being expressed through the lens of the Atlanta aesthetic. DeAsia's work can be seen in Pitchfork, Essence, Teen Vogue, Elle and more.
