In 2023, Florence + the Machine canceled a run of tour dates after frontwoman Florence Welch underwent “emergency surgery” that “saved [her] life.” Now, Welch is going into detail about what happened.
Welch tells The Guardian that she had a miscarriage after becoming pregnant for the first time. Upon a follow-up visit to her doctor, she learned that the pregnancy had become ectopic, resulting in internal bleeding.
“The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death,” Welch says. “And I felt like I had stepped through this door, and it was just full of women, screaming.”
Welch had been feeling unwell leading up to the follow-up visit, but felt better upon performing a show.
“I didn’t want to go for the scan,” Welch says. “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.”
At the appointment, the doctor found that Welch’s fallopian tube had ruptured and she had “a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen.” She underwent the operation within the hour.
“And then, that was that,” Welch says. “Ten days later, I was back on stage.”
Florence + the Machine will release a new album, Everybody Scream, on Oct. 31.
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