Solange Knowles has been diagnosed with an autonomic nerve disorder and must cancel her New Year’s Eve performance at Afropunk Festival in South Africa.
“The past five months I have been quietly treating, and working through an Autonomic Disorder,” the Grammy winner, 31, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday, December 27. “It been a journey that hasn’t been easy on me… Sometimes I feel cool, and other times not so cool at all.”
Knowles went on to call her diagnosis “complicated,” writing, “I’m still learning so much myself, but right now, my doctors are not clearing me” for a flight to South Africa.
“I can’t put into words how saddened and sorry I am that I am unable to perform for you guys this NYE,” she continued. “There is simply no other place I wanted to be than there with my family to bring in 2018 with you…….but I give you my ABSOLUTE WORD I will come back with AfroPunk and deliver this performance…..as it is so extremely important to me to connect with the people who have so closely inspired me in so many ways.”
The “Cranes in the Sky” singer concluded her post by thanking the people who have kept her diagnosis “confidential” over the past five months. “As a part of the self care that I’ve tried to encourage this past year, it needs to start with myself, and I’m looking forward to doing a better job of this 2018,” she wrote. “This past year has been one of the most fulfilling of my life… Performing this record and experiencing the energy exchange with you guys has been astounding, and I’m so excited about continuing to do the work I feel so absolutely humbled and appreciative to be doing next year. It gives me life.”
While Knowles did not share the type of autonomic disorder with which she was diagnosed, those affected typically have trouble regulating their heart rates, blood pressure, digestion and body temperatures, according to the Mayo Clinic.
