Ellie Goulding is looking back on one of the most physically brutal moments of her career, and she isn’t sugarcoating it. In a candid new cover interview with NYLON for its January issue, the 39-year-old singer revealed that she once took the Coachella stage while battling severe food poisoning. Despite the conditions, she pushed through and performed.
Ellie Goulding admits she was ‘s***ting my pants’ at Coachella due to food poisoning
Speaking to NYLON, Elle Goulding remembered having a tough time just before her Coachella set. “Coachella one year, I had food poisoning. I was s***ting my pants, and I still went,” she told the outlet. The musician recalled wearing leather shorts with zippers running up the front and back, which she instantly regretted, given her situation. “I thought, ‘These are the worst thing for my situation right now,’” she added.
Goulding traced the illness back to a demanding tour run in South America, where she was alongside Lorde. A shared meal before the festival reportedly triggered the episode. She said, “I remember having dinner with Ella, and I had some kind of wrap and it all went wrong.”
The singer also reflected on how abruptly her life changed early in her career and how unprepared her body was for it. She went from obscurity to major global moments almost overnight. “I went from never taking a flight, never being photographed, to singing at the royal wedding,” she explained. “I don’t think my body knew how to process the contrast between my old life and my new life.”
Back then, Goulding said, the industry offered little protection for artists under relentless schedules. “I never stopped,” she admitted, noting frequent illnesses like tonsillitis and a voice that gave out. She even recalled being warned she might never perform again after turning down an awards show for health reasons.
While Goulding acknowledged that support systems for artists have improved, she didn’t forget how harsh things once were. “There were things like that: ‘If you don’t do this, you will get repercussions,'” she said. Now, as the singer gears up for her next musical era, teased with her November single “Destiny,” Goulding says she’s finally learned how to listen to her body.
