Donald Glover gave fans a fright this week when he opened up about a serious health emergency during last year’s Childish Gambino tour. The 42-year-old actor and musician told the crowd at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles that he first felt a “really bad pain” in his head after a concert in Louisiana. When he later went to a hospital in Houston, doctors broke the news: “‘You had a stroke,’” Glover quoted them as saying. The “Community” alum admitted the diagnosis left him feeling like he was “letting everybody down” by canceling the remaining tour dates.
Further tests after the stroke uncovered another problem: a hole in his heart. “They found a hole in my heart… so I had this surgery, and then I had to have another surgery,” Glover revealed. He underwent multiple heart procedures last fall and spent the remainder of 2024 offstage to recover. Despite the scare, Glover took the experience as a wake-up call. He told fans that “we have two lives, and the second life starts when you realize you have one,” adding that “the life I’ve lived with you guys has been such a blessing.” Now fully on the mend, he thanked audiences for their support and promised that playing music for his community is one of the great joys of his life.