LeAnn Rimes has given fans an unabashedly honest update on her health, describing herself as “raw” in a candid Substack post posted on Tuesday, May 12.
The country singer, 43, has been off the road after postponing several concerts following a COVID-19 diagnosis that left her with vocal cord problems.
And in typical Rimes fashion, she didn’t gloss over any of it.
“My throat, my esophagus, my heart… hell, I even have a blister on my heel,” she wrote. “Oh, and I’m on my period too. When it rains, it pours.”
In addition to the physical, Rimes described the experience as something of a forced reckoning.
“I feel like life has stripped me down and stripped everything back for the moment,” she wrote.
“This whole illness has been incredibly humbling. One minute you’re going through your routines, checking boxes, dealing with the next… and the next, your body simply says, ‘No more.’ No flow… no performance… no pretending to be fine… just rawness.”
She is currently three days out from her next scheduled concert, but her voice is still recovering and her doctor has advised her to rest. It’s a situation she knows all too well.
“For over 30 years, one of the hardest decisions and hardest internal battles I’ve faced every time I get sick and have shows planned is deciding whether to cancel/reschedule or perform when I know it’s not in my best interest in the long run to perform while I’m still semi-sick,” she explained.
In the past, the fear of letting fans down meant she pushed through anyway. That, she says, is no longer the approach.
“My health has to come first, otherwise I risk possible real injury by singing on swollen and irritated tissue.”
The striking thing about the post is that Rimes doesn’t sound defeated after all. Her energy lasts, her thinking is clear, and she describes being fully present with her feelings, however uncomfortable.
“There’s no numbing, no muting, no escaping… just me sitting in the middle of it all. And while it’s been wildly uncomfortable at times, it’s also felt strangely sacred.”
There is also a family dimension, she touched on, without going into detail.
One parent recently suffered a stroke and is now in rehab, she revealed, praising her husband Eddie Cibrian for holding things together during what was clearly an overwhelming time for both of them.
“Seeing someone you love carry so much while you’re barely able to carry yourself is its own kind of heartbreak,” she wrote.
She closed the post with a direct message to fans who had tickets to the postponed shows, making it clear that the decision to reschedule was not one she took lightly.
“Every fiber of me wants to break through, show up and sing anyway,” she said.
“But at 43, I know that honoring my body rather than disregarding it is the wiser choice… for my voice, my health, and ultimately for all of you.”
