Justin Bieber has alerted fans to his recent diagnosis with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which has temporarily paralysed the entire right side of his face.
Earlier this week, the singer postponed the opening stretch of his North American ‘Justice’ tour, at the time citing an unspecified “sickness”.
In a video shared to his Instagram overnight (June 10), Bieber explained that his illness stems from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, “occurs when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near one of your ears”. In his video, Bieber can be seen struggling to blink, smile or move his right nostril.
“For those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows, I’m just physically, obviously, not capable of doing them,” he explained. “This is pretty serious, as you can see. I wish this wasn’t the case, but obviously my body is telling me I’ve got to slow down, and I hope you guys understand.”
Though he stopped short of confirming which – or how many – shows would be affected by the postponements, Bieber went on to say that he would be “using this time to just rest and relax, and get back to 100 per cent so that I can do what I was born to do”.
Bieber assured fans that his facial paralysis will subside over time. “I’m doing all of these facial exercises to get my face back to normal,” he said, stressing that “it will go back to normal – it’s just time, and we don’t know how much time it’s going to be”.
He continued: “I have hope, and I trust God, and I trust that this is… all for a reason. I’m not sure what that is right now, but in the meantime, I’m going to rest.”
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Have a look at the full video below:
New dates for the postponed North American shows are yet to be confirmed. Bieber’s website lists his back-to-back shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden – dated for Monday June 13 and Tuesday 14 – as his next performances. It’s unlikely these will go ahead, though: in an update posted to his Instagram Story just hours ago, the singer noted that “[it’s] been getting progressively harder to eat”.
The ‘Justice’ world tour has already been rescheduled three times thus far, stemming from its original 2020 iteration as the ‘Changes’ tour. Further delays happened earlier this year, after Bieber tested positive for COVID-19.
Bieber is set to return to perform in Europe next month, followed by stints in South America, South Africa, India, South East Asia, Japan and Australia throughout the remainder of 2022. Next February, he’ll bring the ‘Justice’ tour to the UK for a run of 11 shows.