Florence Welch opens up on miscarriage and life‑threatening ectopic pregnancy
Florence Welch nearly died after an ectopic pregnancy.
The 39-year-old singer/songwriter suffered massive internal bleeding after her fallopian tube ruptured and she revealed that only the swift actions of her doctor, who insisted she had a scan, saved her life.
She told the Guardian newspaper: “I had an ectopic pregnancy, on stage. The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death. And I felt like I had stepped through this door, and it was just full of women, screaming.”
Welch and her indie guitarist boyfriend were thrilled when she got pregnant in 2023 but devastated when she suffered a miscarriage early on.
However, she was not concerned about any danger to herself at first.
“It was my first experience of even trying to get pregnant and I thought, there’s no way, because I’m ancient,” Welch said. “It was a big shock. But it felt magical, as well. I felt I had followed a bodily instinct, in that animal sense, and it had happened.
“I think, because it was my first time being pregnant and it was my first miscarriage, I was like, okay, I’ve heard this is part of it. I spoke to my doctor and they are not generally dangerous. Devastating, but not dangerous. Emotionally, I was sad and scared, but I think, also, I was coping. With physical stuff, I have a strange, otherworldly strength. Emotionally, I’m an absolute nightmare. Literally, will crumble. But broken bone? Fine. Internal bleeding? Let’s go.”
Welch was due to headline a festival in Cornwall, so she pushed ahead – but her doctor insisted she go for a scan afterwards as she was feeling unwell.
“Women! It’s funny. I took some Ibuprofen and stepped out on stage,” she said. “I was in the elements, in the wind and rain, and I just felt something working through me. And I felt this thing take over, the thing that’s always there, the safe space of performance.
“Do you know the f*****-up thing? I didn’t want to go for the scan. I thought, I’ve done this show, I’m fine, I can cope. But my doctor’s insistence that I come in saved my life.
“I started to panic. I had a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen. I tried to run away. I couldn’t go anywhere! Then I was so embarrassed that I was causing a fuss.
“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! If I’d got on [a] plane, I’d have come off on a stretcher. Or worse. I think the sound that came out of me was like a wounded animal or something. And then, that was that. Ten days later, I was back on stage.”