Donald Glover Reveals Life-Threatening Health Scare and Surgeries

Donald Glover can laugh about it now, but a year ago he suffered a terrifying health scare.

Glover, who raps under the name Childish Gambino, got candid on stage Saturday, Nov. 22, during Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

The actor-turned-rapper told the audience he suffered a stroke last year and was forced to cancel his tour.

“I had a really bad pain in my head in Louisiana and I did the show anyway,” Glover, 42, said in videos shared across social media. “I couldn’t really see well, so when we went to Houston, I went to the hospital and the doctor was like, ‘You had a stroke!’”

Related: Jamie Foxx Reveals He Suffered Brain Bleed and Stroke – ‘I Don’t Remember 20 Days’

Childish Gambino opened up about suffering a stroke and having to cancel his last tour at Camp Flog Gnaw:

“I had a really bad pain in my head in Louisiana and I did the show anyway. I couldn’t really see well, so when we went to Houston I went to the hospital and the doctor was… pic.twitter.com/o6x8DUrqZ6

— Kurrco (@Kurrco) November 23, 2025

Glover jokingly compared his health crisis to the near-fatal stroke Jamie Foxx suffered while filming a movie in April 2023.

“The first thing I thought was like, ‘Oh, here I am still copying Jamie Foxx,’ ” Glover quipped. “That’s really like the second thing. The first thing, the first thing was like, ‘I’m letting everybody down.'”

He said his doctors also “found a hole” in his heart. The Emmy Award-winning Atlanta star said he subsequently needed two surgeries.

“They say everybody has two lives and the second life starts when you realize you have one,” Glover said. “You got one life guys, and I gotta be honest, the life I’ve lived with you guys has been such a blessing. I love seeing and performing for you guys.”

He encouraged fans to live their lives how they want, “because it can only get better.”

The Camp Flog Gnaw music festival runs Nov.  22 through 23. The star-studded line-up includes T-Pain, Glorilla, Clipse, Doechii, A$AP Rocky, and of course Tyler, the Creator.