Donald Glover recently revealed that a stroke he suffered in 2024 led to the cancellation of his global New World Tour. Then the actor-musician went on to joke that the situation made him feel like he was “copying Jamie Foxx,” who experienced a stroke the year before.
Donald Glover talks about suffering a stroke
Donald Glover opened up publicly for the first time about the medical emergency that halted his 2024 Childish Gambino tour. Telling fans at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival on November 22 that he suffered a stroke during the run. The incident happened after a show in New Orleans, where he experienced a severe headache and blurred vision.
“I had a really bad pain in my head in Louisiana, and I did the show anyway,” Glover said on stage. “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 New World Tour, which had already begun its international leg, was stopped immediately after doctors gave the diagnosis. Glover said his first reaction was believing he had disappointed fans, before adding with a laugh that his second reaction was thinking, “Oh, here I am still copying Jamie Foxx.” Foxx’s own stroke in 2023 drew global attention and resulted in a months-long recovery.
Glover further explained that the stroke was only one of several medical issues that surfaced around the same time. He said he also broke his foot on tour, and later, doctors found a hole in his heart that required two separate surgeries. “They found a hole in my heart,” he told the crowd. “So I had this surgery, and then I had to have another surgery,” Glover added.
However, while reflecting, Donald Glover told fans, “They say everybody has two lives, and the second life starts when you realize you have one. You should be living your life how you want. If we have to do this again, it can only get better.”
Glover, who performs under the Childish Gambino name, has spent over a decade building the iconic musical persona, releasing six albums and getting five Grammy Awards.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu for Mandatory.
