LOS ANGELES: Pop star Justin Bieber says he has had to pause his world tour, which was to bring him to Bangkok in November, because he is suffering from partial facial paralysis.
In a video posted to Instagram, the Canadian entertainer said he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.
The 28-year-old singer recently announced he was pausing his Justice World Tour due to illness, hours before his first slated concert in Toronto. At the time no further details were given.
Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is a complication of shingles that occurs when an outbreak affects the facial nerve near one ear. In addition to facial paralysis, it can cause hearing loss.
“As you can see, this eye is not blinking, I can’t smile on this side of my face, this nostril will not move,” Bieber explained in the video.
“So, there’s full paralysis on this side of my face. So for those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows, I’m just physically, obviously, not capable of doing them. This is pretty serious, as you can see.”
He said he was doing facial exercises and taking time to “rest and relax and get back to 100 percent so I can do what I was born to do”.
He did not give an estimated timeline for his recovery.
“It will go back to normal,” he said. “It’s just time, and we don’t know how much time that’s going to be.”
It’s the third time that Bieber’s tour has been postponed, the first two due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bieber, who grew up in Stratford, Ontario, found fame as a 13-year-old and went on to become a global pop phenomenon with songs like Baby and Believe. He has two Grammy wins among 22 nominations, including record and song of the year nods this year for Peaches.
Bieber has been scheduled to perform at Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok on Nov 6.
The Southeast Asian leg of his tour is scheduled to start in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 22, followed by a concert in Singapore on Oct 25 and two shows in Jakarta on Nov 2 and 3.
