‘Closest I Came to Death’

In an interview with The Guardian, published on Saturday, the Florence & the Machine singer revealed she suffered an “ectopic pregnancy, on stage” while headlining a music festival in Cornwall in August 2023, and she underwent emergency surgery.

“The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death,” Welch, 39, recalled. “And I felt like I had stepped through this door, and it was just full of women, screaming.”

The singer said that two years ago, she and her British guitarist boyfriend — whose identity she keeps private — decided to try to have a baby, and were successful in getting pregnant on the first try.

“It was my first experience of even trying to get pregnant, and I thought, there’s no way, because I’m ancient,” said Welch, who was about to turn 37 at the time.

“It was a big shock. But it felt magical, as well. I felt I had followed a bodily instinct, in that animal sense, and it had happened,” she added.

Early on in the pregnancy, per The Guardian, the “Dog Days Are Over” songstress suffered what she believed was a miscarriage, but unbeknownst to her, she had an ectopic pregnancy.

“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,” she said, while also noting that she was “sad and scared” at the time, but “coping.”

On the day of her scheduled performance at the Cornwall Music Festival, Welch said she woke up feeling sick and in pain, was pale, and had started bleeding heavily. After checking in with her doctor, she planned to get checked when she returned home to London, and ultimately, hit the stage.

“I was in the elements, in the wind and rain, and I just felt something working through me,” Welch recalled, adding that her pain went away. “And I felt this thing take over, the thing that’s always there, the safe space of performance.”

The Grammy-nominated artist said her pain returned following her performance, but she felt alright the next morning when she went to her appointment at the hospital — to the point that she didn’t think she needed her boyfriend to be with her.

“Do you know the f–ked-up thing? I didn’t want to go for the scan. I thought, I’ve done this show, I’m fine, I can cope. But my doctor’s insistence that I come in saved my life,” Welch said.

The scan revealed her fallopian tube had ruptured, and the musician was told she needed emergency surgery.

“I had a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen,” Welch revealed, getting emotional as she recalled that surgeons had to remove her fallopian tube after they were unable to save it. “I tried to run away.”

“I couldn’t go anywhere!” she added with a laugh, noting that her legs were in stirrups. “Then I was so embarrassed that I was causing a fuss.”

“It was animal instinct. Like, run. But there was an [ultrasound wand] inside me and a woman I’d never met before, and I was like, gotta go!” she said, laughing.

The “Shake It Off” singer said she was set to leave for another festival, and revealed that the worst could have happened if she hadn’t sought medical intervention.

“If I’d got on that plane, I’d have come off on a stretcher. Or worse,” Welch admitted.

Per The Guardian, she again became choked up as she recalled how she had howled.

“I think the sound that came out of me was like a wounded animal or something,” Welch recalled. “And then, that was that.”

“Ten days later, I was back on stage,” she added.

In August 2023, Welch announced that she had to cancel multiple concerts after she needed “emergency surgery,” but she did not reveal any further details at the time.

“I’m so sorry that I had to cancel the last couple of shows,” she wrote in an Instagram statement the time, see above. “My feet are fine, I had to have emergency surgery for reasons I don’t really feel strong enough to go into yet, but it saved my life.”

“And I will be back to close out the Dance Fever tour in Lisbon and Malaga (maybe not jumping so much but you can do that for me),” she added. “Suffice to say I wish the songs were less accurate in their predictions. But creativity is a way of coping, mythology is way of making sense.”

“And the dark fairytale of Dave Fever, with all its strange prophecies, will provide me with much needed strength and catharsis right now,” Welch said, concluding her statement.

Less than a year prior, in November 2022, Welch had broken her foot on stage, but finished the show.

“With physical stuff, I have a strange, otherworldly strength. Emotionally, I’m an absolute nightmare. Literally, will crumble. But broken bone? Fine. Internal bleeding? Let’s go,” she told The Guardian while recalling how she took the stage the day she suffered her ectopic pregnancy.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, an ectopic pregnancy occurs “when a fertilized egg implants outside of your uterus, most commonly in your fallopian tube.” The condition is “life-threatening” as it can “lead to bleeding in the birth mother.”