Childish Gambino Reveals: ‘I Had a Stroke’

Donald Glover – known in the music world as Childish Gambino – said publicly that he had a stroke in 2024, an episode that led to the cancellation of his world tour. At the time, the 42-year-old had only spoken of a general “malaise” after a concert in New Orleans, explaining that he had been admitted to a hospital in Houston and needed surgery. Shortly thereafter, the postponement and eventual outright cancellation of all remaining dates in the US, UK, Europe and Australia followed, with a message admitting that the recovery was taking much longer than expected. During his performance at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles, Glover returned to the incident and explained the gravity of the situation for the first time. “I was in the middle of the world tour,” he said.

“I was having a lot of fun. But in Louisiana I had a really bad headache. I did the show anyway, even though my vision was blurry. In Houston I ended up in hospital: the doctor told me I had had a stroke.” Subsequent tests also highlighted a hole in his heart, which forced him to undergo two operations. Glover – who in addition to music is appreciated as an actor in series such as “Atlanta” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, and at the cinema in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” – tried to lighten the moment by recalling the very similar case of Jamie Foxx, who also suffered a stroke in 2023 after a sudden headache. “I thought: I’m copying Jamie Foxx,” he quipped. “But the first thing I felt was the feeling of disappointing everyone. Rationally I know that’s not the case.” In addition to heart complications, Glover explained that he also fractured his foot during that time, an accumulation of problems that forced him to stop completely. “They say that we have two lives, and that the second begins when you really understand that you only have one. You have to live as you want. And if we had to start over, maybe it would be even better.”