Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis Speaks Out About Hospitalization

When Red Hot Chili Peppers had to cancel a show on May 14, breaking the news from the stage that frontman Anthony Kiedis was being taken to the hospital, it sent fans into a panic. The singer is now on the mend and has spoken about his condition in a new interview.

"It was a painful and sad thing to have to cancel shows, we don't really do that," Kiedis told ET Canada. "I'd rather play deathly ill than not at all but in this particular instance I was starting to go down to the ground. I got some help and now I've got to figure things out." The hospitalization was caused by an intestinal flu, which the singer said was exacerbated by a recent virus he had contracted along with scar tissue from hernia operations, revealing, "That becomes an incredibly painful situation where you get a fever and pass out."

Ready to hit the stage again, the Chili Peppers frontman isn't feeling completely back to form, stating, "I feel good, not great, but good. I think I had to get sick to take a look at myself and get to the causes and conditions of my overall health." Explaining he could be more cognizant of his health, Kiedis added,  "I push pretty hard sometimes and I do take my health for granted on a certain level because I feel strong and capable. I surf most days and I like to charge, but 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."

After nixing two shows in total due to the singer's ailments, Red Hot Chili Peppers will perform tomorrow (May 22) for their headlining set which will close out the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio.

The band will also be releasing their 11th studio album, The Getaway, on June 17 though Warner Bros. The first single, "Dark Necessities," arrived earlier this month and can be heard here.

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