“I had about a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen,” the Florence & the Machine frontwoman revealed, adding that emergency surgery ultimately “saved my life.”

Florence Welch is getting candid about a terrifying medical crisis that nearly cost her everything.

In a Saturday interview with The Guardian, the singer shared that she experienced an “ectopic pregnancy on stage” while headlining a Cornwall music festival in August 2023—an incident that led to urgent surgery.

“For me, the moment I came closest to creating life was also the moment I came closest to losing my own,” the 39-year-old recalled. “It felt like I stepped through a door, and on the other side, there were just women screaming.”

Welch explained that two years prior, she and her British guitarist boyfriend—whose identity she’s kept private—decided to try for a baby. To their surprise, they succeeded on the first try.

“It was my first time even attempting to get pregnant, and I thought, ‘There’s no way this will work—I’m too old,’” said Welch, who was approaching 37 at the time. “It was a huge shock, but it also felt magical. I’d followed this primal, bodily instinct, and it actually happened.”

Early in the pregnancy, the “Dog Days Are Over” star thought she’d had a miscarriage, The Guardian reports. What she didn’t know, though, was that she was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy.

“Since it was my first pregnancy and first miscarriage, I told myself, ‘This is just part of the process,’” she said. “I talked to my doctor, and they said miscarriages usually aren’t dangerous—devastating, sure, but not life-threatening.” She admitted she was “sad and scared” then, but felt like she was “coping.”

On the day of her Cornwall Music Festival set, Welch woke up feeling nauseous, in pain, pale, and bleeding heavily. After checking in with her doctor, she planned to get further care once she returned to London—and still went on stage.

“I was out in the wind and rain, and I just felt something shift in me,” she remembered, noting that the pain temporarily faded. “Then that familiar force took over—the one that’s always there, the safety of performing.”

The Grammy-nominated artist said the pain came back after her set, but by the next morning, she felt well enough to go to her hospital appointment alone—she didn’t even think her boyfriend needed to join her.

“You know the messed-up part? I didn’t want to get the scan,” Welch admitted. “I thought, ‘I did the show, I’m fine, I can handle this.’ But my doctor pushing me to come in? That saved my life.”

The scan revealed her fallopian tube had ruptured, and she was told she needed emergency surgery immediately.

“I had a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen,” Welch said, her voice cracking as she recalled surgeons having to remove the damaged fallopian tube—they couldn’t save it. “I tried to run away.”

“I couldn’t go anywhere!” she added with a laugh, explaining her legs were in stirrups. “Then I felt ridiculous for making a scene.”

“It was pure animal instinct—just ‘run,’” she said, still chuckling. “But there was an ultrasound wand inside me, and this woman I’d never met before… I just wanted out.”

Welch noted she’d been set to leave for another festival shortly after—and that things could have ended horribly if she’d skipped the doctor’s visit.

“If I’d gotten on that plane, I would’ve come off on a stretcher,” she said. “Or worse.”

As she remembered the moment, Welch’s voice broke again—this time, talking about the howl that escaped her.

“I think the noise I made was like a wounded animal,” she said. “And then… it was over.”

“Ten days later, I was back on stage,” she added.

Back in August 2023, Welch announced she’d canceled several concerts due to “emergency surgery” but didn’t share more details at the time.

“I’m so sorry I had to cancel the last couple of shows,” she wrote in an Instagram post then. “My feet are fine—I had to undergo emergency surgery—details I wasn’t strong enough to share at the time—but it saved my life.”

“I’ll be back to wrap up the Dance Fever tour in Lisbon and Malaga (maybe I won’t jump as much, but you can jump for me),” she continued. “Suffice to say, I wish my songs weren’t so accurate with their predictions. But creativity is how I cope, and mythology is how I make sense of things.”

“The dark fairytale of Dance Fever—with all its weird prophecies—will give me the strength and release I need right now,” she concluded.

Less than a year before the ectopic pregnancy, in November 2022, Welch broke her foot on stage but still finished the show.

“When it comes to physical stuff, I have this weird, almost otherworldly strength,” she told The Guardian, reflecting on why she performed through her ectopic pregnancy symptoms. “Emotionally? I’m a disaster—I crumble instantly. But a broken bone? Fine. Internal bleeding? Let’s do this.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic, an ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus—most often in one of the fallopian tubes. The condition is life-threatening because it can cause severe bleeding in the person carrying the pregnancy.