Justin Bieber has cancelled a series of shows on his latest tour after a virus caused “full paralysis” on one side of his face.
The Canadian popstar said he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome after a virus had damaged the nerves in his ear. He said he was suffering a “pretty serious” case in a video he posted to his Instagram page.
The 28-year-old is currently on his Justice tour in North America and has cancelled performances in Toronto, Washington DC and New York.
He said: “It is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear in my facial nerves and has caused my face to have paralysis.
“As you can see, this eye is not blinking. I can’t smile on this side of my face. This nostril will not move, so there’s full paralysis on this side of my face.”
In the three-minute long video he tries to smile, blink and move his face but parts of his face would not react. He said he has been doing facial exercises to recover.
Bieber’s last album, Justice, released in March 2021, has been certified platinum in the US, and got to second in the UK album charts. The North America leg of his world tour is due to end in July.
“So for those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows, I’m just physically, obviously not able of doing them,” he said. “This is pretty serious as you can see.”
“I wish this wasn’t the case but obviously my body is telling me I gotta slow down.
“I hope you guys understand, and I’ll be using this time to just rest and relax and get back to 100% so I can do what I was born to do. But in the meantime, this ain’t it.
“We don’t know how much time it is going to be but it’s going to be OK, I have hope and I trust God. I trust it is all for a reason. I’m not sure what that is right now but in the meantime I am going to rest.”
