Lewis Capaldi stunned fans on Monday as he cancelled all of his upcoming gigs to “rest and recover” ahead of his set at Glastonbury later this month.
The shock decision has worried his millions of fans, as he confessed he was “struggling to get to grips” with his mental and physical health, and hasn’t been feeling his best in recent months.
“Hi everyone, hope you’re well. This is a really difficult message and one that hurts me a lot to have to type,” the beloved Scottish singer wrote in a statement on social media.
“But I’m really sorry to say that I’m going to have to cancel all commitments from now until I play Glastonbury,” Lewis said, confirming his upcoming gigs in Glasgow, Dublin London and Norway would be scrapped.
He said the "last few months have been full on both mentally and physically, I haven’t been home properly since Christmas and at the moment I’m struggling to get to grips with it all".
"I need to take a moment to rest and recover, to be at my best and ready for Glastonbury and all of the other incredible shows coming up so that I’m able to continue doing what I love for a long time to come," the Wish You The Best hitmaker continued.
"I need to take these three weeks to be Lewis from Glasgow for a bit, spend some time with my family and friends and do normal life things that are an important part of me feeling better," the Brit award-winning singer added.
Devastated fans flocked to the comments on his Instagram post, and urged the star to take care of himself as it’s not the first time Lewis has confessed to struggling with his mental and physical health.
Last year, the singer revealed he had been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological condition which causes the sufferer to make involuntary movements or sounds, called tics.
“I wanted to speak about it because I didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something,” he joked at the time.
He said his shoulder twitches when he’s “excited, happy, nervous or stressed.”
“It is something I am living with. It’s not as bad as it looks,” he insisted.
His fans are fiercely protective of him, and during a gig in February, he began to have a series of tics which prevented him from singing his hit Someone You Loved.
However, the audience soon stepped in and sang the rest of the song for him.
Lewis has also been refreshingly candid in sharing his experience with severe anxiety, and confessed he suffers from such painful episodes he relies on his mum to help calm him down.
During an interview with Radio 2 earlier this year, he said his anxiety after drinking was so bad he had “panic attack after panic attack”.
“I always feel anxious after drinking, but I’d really hammered it after a long time of not boozing, and my mum had to come down to calm me down – lie in bed with me,” Lewis explained.
He said his Netflix documentary, How I’m Feeling Now, helped him to realise just how bad his anxiety was.
After watching it for the first time, he told The Times he “didn’t expect my life to be so sad” and vowed to give up his career in music if it had a detrimental effect on his health.
"Right now, the trade-off is worth it, but if it gets to a point where I'm doing irreparable damage to myself, I'll quit,” Lewis said.
During a conversation with Rebecca Judd on Apple Music, Lewis said his struggles with his mental health are triggered when he’s on tour, and the musician has been performing solidly across the world for months on end.
"My mental health issues are a direct symptom of my job,” he confessed.
“I still haven't quite got there, but it's interesting that this thing that you love to do and you've always wanted to do becomes something that causes you such distress, but such is the modern world,” he sadly added.
Lewis is due to play Glastonbury on 24 June on the Pyramid stage.
