Pop singer Halsey says she is ‘lucky to be alive’ amid health struggles

Chart-topping pop singer Halsey has announced she is “lucky to be alive” as she documents a series of health struggles alongside the announcement of a new album.

The 29-year-old, real name Ashley Frangipane, showed herself receiving treatment for the illnesses. She has not revealed a diagnosis, but tagged the Lupus Research Alliance and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in the post, and has made donations to both organisations.

In a video posted to Instagram, she describes herself as “like an old lady. I told myself I’m giving myself two more years to be sick. And 30 … I’m having a rebirth and I’m not gonna be sick and I’m gonna look super hot and have lots of energy and I’m just gonna get to redo my twenties in my thirties.”

She wrote in a caption: “Long story short, I’m lucky to be alive. Short story long, I wrote an album.” She has released a song from it entitled The End.

Known for her unabashedly emotive pop songwriting, Frangipane has amassed huge success since her breakthrough in 2015 with debut album Badlands. Her four studio albums have all reached either No 1 or No 2 in the US, and she has topped the singles chart there with Without Me and her collaboration with the Chainsmokers, Closer.

The latter song also reached No 1 in the UK as did another collaboration, Eastside, with producer Benny Blanco and singer Khalid. Frangipane has amassed more than 50 billion streams across all platforms during her career to date.

She has lived with a series of other health issues in the past, saying on Instagram in 2022: “I’ve been sick. For a long time. My sicknesses just have their names now. I went to doctors for 8 years. Trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I was called crazy and anxious and lazy amongst other things. I changed my entire lifestyle.”

She said that she had been diagnosed with connective tissue ailment Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, immune disorders Sjögren’s syndrome and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), and POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) which affects heart rate and the nervous system. She was also previously diagnosed with endometriosis.