LeAnn Rimes shares hardcore update on life: ‘Raw'

LeAnn Rimes has given fans an unflinchingly honest update on her health, describing herself as "raw" in a candid Substack post published on Tuesday, 12 May.

The country singer, 43, has been off the road after postponing several concerts following a COVID-19 diagnosis that left her with vocal cord problems. 

And in typical Rimes fashion, she didn't sugarcoat any of it. 

"My throat, my esophagus, my heart… hell, I even have a blister on my heel," she wrote. "Oh, and I'm on my period, too. When it rains, it pours."

Beyond the physical, Rimes described the experience as something of a forced reckoning. 

"I feel like life has stripped me down and stripped everything back for the moment," she wrote. 

"This whole illness has been incredibly humbling. One minute you're moving through your routines, checking boxes, handling what's next… and the next, your body simply says, 'No more.' No powering through… no performing…. no pretending you're fine …. just rawness."

She's currently three days out from her next scheduled concert, but her voice is still recovering and her doctor has advised her to rest. It's a situation she knows all too well. 

"For over 30 years, one of the toughest decisions and hardest inner battles I've faced every time I get sick and have shows scheduled is deciding whether to cancel/reschedule or perform, when I know good and well that performing while still half sick is not in my best interest in the long run," she explained. 

In the past, fear of letting fans down meant she pushed through anyway. That, she says, is no longer the approach. 

"My health has to come first or I risk possible, real injury by singing on swollen and irritated tissue."

What's striking about the post is that despite everything, Rimes doesn't sound defeated. Her energy is holding up, her thinking is clear, and she describes being fully present with her emotions, uncomfortable as that is. 

"There's no numbing, no muting, no escaping… just me, sitting in the middle of all of it. And while that has felt wildly uncomfortable at times, it's also felt strangely sacred."

There's also a family dimension she touched on, without going into full detail. 

A parent has recently had a stroke and is now in rehab, she revealed, and she praised her husband Eddie Cibrian for holding things together during what is clearly an overwhelming period for them both. 

"Watching someone you love carry so much while you're barely able to carry yourself is its own kind of heartbreak," she wrote.

She closed the post with a direct message to fans who had tickets to the postponed shows, making clear the decision to reschedule was not one she made lightly. 

"Every fiber of me wants to push through, show up and sing anyway," she said. 

"But at 43, I know that honouring my body instead of overriding it is the wiser choice… for my voice, my health and ultimately for all of you too."