Anthony Kiedis Gives Details On Health Scare That Took Him Down

Anthony Kiedis is opening up about his medical emergency and recent hospitalization that resulted in the rare cancellation of two concerts for his band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In an interview with ET Canada, the 53-year-old RHCP frontman said he suffered from inflammation that was further complicated by a stomach virus and scar tissue from hernia operations. Kiedis was rushed to the hospital last week with severe stomach pains just minutes before his band was scheduled to take the stage at a rock festival in Irvine, California, last week.

In the ET interview, Kiedis said that his band never cancels shows, so the incident was painful for him in more way than one. Anthony explained that while he would have rather have played feeling “deathly ill” than not play at all, his body became the breeding ground for the perfect storm for a very painful episode that took him down — literally — to the ground.

“I had inflammation in my guts,” Kiedis told ET. “I had a stomach virus a few weeks ago, and I’ve had some operations on hernias from singing…So the scar tissue, the flu virus conspired to create an impassable inflammation, so nothing I was eating was getting past the stomach, and that becomes an incredibly painful situation where you get a fever and pass out.”

Anthony Kiedis said that while he’s now “on the mend,” the health scare was a major wake-up call for him to pay better attention to his body, despite the fact that he still feels strong and active and surfs almost every day.

“I think I had to get sick to take a look at myself and get to the causes and conditions of my overall health,” Anthony said. “Every now and then, the body is like ‘You’re doing something wrong, either fix it or we’re gonna let you know about it,’ and I think that my body let me know that I had to change my ways a little bit. So it turned out to be a good thing, albeit painful…I got some help and now I’ve got to figure things out.”

While he’s on the road to recovery, Anthony Kiedis admits he is still not 100 percent back to his old self.

“I feel good, not great, but good,” Kiedis said.

In the aftermath of the recent deaths of high-profile musicians like David Bowie and Prince, rock fans were very worried about Anthony Kiedis when his name was trending on news websites last weekend.

While he appreciates the love, Kiedis joked that it must have been a slow news day.

“When I opened my phone and I saw I was on the news, I was like, everything must be okay in the world today if that’s what’s making the news,” Anthony laughed.

Of course, it probably didn’t help that Kiedis’ bandmate, Flea, took to the Irvine Amphitheater stage to vaguely announce that the RHCP lead singer had a “medical thing” to take care of. Soon after, a message about Anthony Kiedis’ health scare was posted on the Red Chili Peppers official website, revealing that the singer was suffering from complications from an intestinal flu, but that he was expected to make a full recovery.

As Anthony Kiedis recovers from his health scare, the band is back to performing. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 11th studio album, The Getaway, is set to be released on June 17.

Check out the video below to see Anthony Kiedis’ interview with ET Canada.

[Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images]