Florence Welch Recalls 'Devastating' Near-Death Experience From Ectopic Pregnancy

Florence Welch, lead singer of Florence & The Machine, revealed she nearly died in 2023 from an ectopic pregnancy that required emergency surgery after her fallopian tube ruptured.

The traumatic experience forced her to cancel tour dates, though fans were initially told it was due to a foot injury.

Florence Welch's upcoming album, "Everybody Scream," a raw, fierce, and witchcraft-infused project steeped in fury, is scheduled for release on Halloween.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Florence Welch, lead singer of Florence & The Machine, revealed that she once had a near-death experience after suffering from an ectopic pregnancy.

Opening up about the health crisis, the 39-year-old artist described the ordeal as both "devastating" and life-altering, revealing that emergency surgery was required to save her life.

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

At the time, the "Dog Days are Over" hitmaker had just discovered she was pregnant at the age of 37 during her on-and-off relationship with her longtime guitarist, whose identity she has chosen to keep private.

Quietly navigating the news of her pregnancy, Welch was also preparing to headline the Cornwall Music Festival, performing even as her body showed signs of distress.

On the day of the show, Welch appeared pale, weak, and in severe pain, while also experiencing heavy bleeding. Doctors urged her to get checked after she finished performing.

Once back in London, her physician discovered the full extent of the crisis: one of her fallopian tubes had ruptured, leaving what she described as "a Coke can's worth of blood" in her abdomen.

She was rushed into emergency surgery to have the tube removed.

Welch recalled an overwhelming, primal panic to flee as the procedure began.

"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.

The "Never Let Me Go" singer admitted she later felt embarrassed "that [she] was causing a fuss," but at the time, she likened the sound she made to "a wounded animal," adding, "And then, that was that."

Around the same period of her health crisis, Welch was also scheduled to play at another festival.

Looking back, she admitted, "If I'd got on that plane, I'd have come off on a stretcher. Or worse."

As she processed the trauma of losing her baby, the "Free" singer reflected on how her earlier miscarriage had seemed, at the time, like something almost routine. "I spoke to my doctor, and they are not generally dangerous. Devastating, but not dangerous," she explained.

Welch's latest revelations now shed light on what was really happening when she abruptly canceled part of her UK tour in August 2023.

At the time, fans were told it was due to a foot injury, but Welch later revealed that she had undergone surgery; she didn't "really feel strong enough to go into yet," but that "saved [her] life."

In her message to fans at the time, she reassured them, writing, "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)."

Welch added, "Suffice to say, I wish the songs were less accurate in their predictions. But creativity is a way of coping, mythology is a way of making sense."

She ended her note by calling the "Dance Fever" era a "dark fairytale" filled with "strange prophecies," one that, despite its haunting undertones, continues to provide her "with much needed strength and catharsis right now."

After coming so close to death, Welch shared that she felt an intense pull toward nature rather than people.

"It was a real need to be around things that couldn't speak, but had a life force or energy to them. I found that the most healing," she explained.

In the months that followed, her garden became a quiet sanctuary, and, unexpectedly, a gathering place for neighborhood animals.

Although she doesn't keep pets herself due to her touring schedule, cats began appearing regularly in her garden, behaving as though they lived there.

"I'm not saying anything, but more and more started coming, and foxes," she said, before adding, "I don't know. Or maybe I just noticed them more, because that's what I needed to be around."

However, out of that catastrophe, Welch created what may be her most raw and uncompromising body of work yet. Her upcoming album, "Everybody Scream," is filled with witchcraft and fury and is scheduled for release on Halloween.