Patti Smith breaks silence after collapsing onstage during live performance
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns
Following a seemingly dramatic health scare earlier this week, Patti Smith has provided her concerned fans with an update.
The 78-year-old rock star collapsed while performing on stage in São Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday (29 Jan) during her set with the Soundwalk Collective group.
According to the Associated Press, the world-renowned singer/songwriter/poet/painter/author/photographer tragically hit the floor around 30 minutes into her set, remaining on the ground for several minutes.
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Michael Alves - a journalist who attended the performance - wrote in the hours afterwards: "She clearly felt dizzy. She started moving backward and fell in a way — I think she tried to support herself on the microphone or the music stand.
"And everything fell on top of her. It was a bizarre scene."
The reporter added that a doctor, who was also in the audience at the time, joined Patti on stage to have her checked over.
Alves continued: "After a few minutes, we saw that she wasn’t unconscious. She got up on her own."
Following the incident, a famously barefoot Patti was escorted out of the view of concert attendees, before returning to the stage later on in the show, being pushed in a wheelchair.
She told concert-goers on the night: "Unfortunately, I got sick, and the doctor said I can’t finish. So we will have to figure something out. And I feel very badly."
As we say, the artist has now provided her fans with an update on her health, revealing she's 'absolutely fine' and describing her fall as a 'small incident'.
Taking to social media on Thursday (30 Jan), Patti also revealed that she fainted as the result of a migraine, claiming that attention from reporters surrounding her fall was 'grossly exaggerated'.
"This is letting everyone know that I am fine," she penned in the caption of a glasses-wearing selfie shared on Instagram. "A grossly exaggerated account is being spread by the press and social media.
"I had some post migraine dizziness. Had a small incident, left the stage, and returned 10 minutes later and talked to the people, told them I was fine and sang them Wing and Because the night."
The mother-of-two - who shares son Jackson, 43, and daughter Jesse, 38, with MC5 guitarist Fred 'Sonic' Smith - went on: "I was checked out by an excellent Doctor and was absolutely fine.
"Please do not accept any other story . With all the strife in the world, this explainable incident does not merit so much attention."
Concluding her message, the Grammy-nominated star thanked her fans 'for the concern' before reiterating: "Trust me I am fine."
On the evening in question, Patti went on to perform several of her hit singles a capella, including 'Wing' and 'Because the Night'.