‘They found a hole in my heart’: Childish Gambino reveals he suffered a stroke last year

The rapper and actor revealed during his set at Camp Flog Gnaw that he canceled his tour in October of last year due to suffering a stroke.

During a performance yesterday, Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino, opened up about having heart surgery after a health emergency.

The artist was performing a set at the festival Camp Flog Gnaw when he told the audience that he had a stroke in 2024, which made him cancel his already postponed North American and European tours. Videos on social media capture his retelling of the event.

“I had a really bad pain in my head in Louisiana and I did the show anyway,” Glover said during his set. “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.’”

The rapper and comedian followed with a joke. “The first thing I thought was like, ‘Oh, here I am still copying Jamie Foxx,’” he said, referring to when Foxx revealed last year that he had a stroke and brain bleed in 2023. “That’s really the second thing. The first thing was, ‘I’m letting everybody down.’”

Back in September 2024, Glover postponed his “The New World” tour in the middle of its North America dates, citing physical health reasons.

“hey everyone. unfortunately i have to postpone the rest of the north american tour to focus on my physical health for a few weeks,” he posted on X. At the time he told fans to hold on to their tickets.

Eventually, he canceled the tour entirely, saying, “My path to recovery is something I need to confront seriously,” according to PEOPLE.

Yesterday at his show, Glover told the full story.

“They found a hole in my heart… so I had this surgery, and then I had to have another surgery,” he continued. “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.”

The “Atlanta” creator announced he was releasing his final two albums under his Childish Gambino moniker in 2024. One was “Atavista,” which was a reworked version of his 2020 album “3.15.20,” and the other a new project called “Bando Stone & the New World.” He explained why he was ditching his artist name to the New York Times.

“It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done,’” he told the publication. “It’s not fulfilling. And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore.”