Singer left terrified after going BLIND in one eye as she is rushed to hospital over mysterious health battle
Chicago-born star Monica shared the worrying news with followers after an intense trip to A&E with her pal Jameela Jamil and partner James Blake.
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The multi-talented star - who has performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - told fans on social media about the alarming incident.
She penned: "What I thought was just an intense and painful ocular migraine slowly turned into my left eye going blind, I was advised to not fly home.
"So alas, I can't open for the best people/friends/musicians tonight for a sold out benefit at troubadour which blows a**.
"It's now been 15 days both colourblind and a black hazy cellophane type feel on the left side and ANYWAY it's been very disorienting and scary.
"Most of my little health woes are from me being clumsy as hell and snapping something: an ankle in softball, an ankle from dumb shoes, an ankle from giving a piggyback ride to a much larger person as a display of strength.
"My ankles are toast btw. This is why I don't like writing captions omg long ting brev; thank you for letting me be myself.
"Been one of the scariest times but my best friends are taking care of me and also are hilarious and also after MUCH ADO have met an angel ophthalmologist, Dr. Shaman Dolly, god forbid you ever need to find him, London, I must let you know his name."
She continued: "London show; you were all so sweet and caring to me when and I lost it and wept on stage smdh, @jameelajamil came to the stage and literally turned herself into a weighted blanket and held me and told me it's gonna be ok. No thanks to lexapro btw.
"I'm on the way to get an MRI in an Uber and unsure why no one likes using their car fan in UK/EU and I've gotten ct scans and bloodwork and yada yada literally 7 trips to hospitals now.
"Anyway. I'm incredibly lucky. My heart is heavy waiting on a prognosis, but my a** is heavier, and my resilience is alarming actually, and the lore disrespectfully deepens, and I'm getting the sense more people want to smash when I'm wearing my eyepatch- or, I'm pulling it off.
"Thank you, London. And @jameelajamil @jamesblake for getting me sweets and savouries."
Activist and presenter Jameela added some humour to the proceedings and commented: "What a glamorous day in A and E. Snacks were 10/10 tho [sic]."
Monica Martin sings song wearing an eye patch
Jameela, who found fame on T4 in 2009, has recently revealed that she tried to take her own life multiple times while struggling to cope with crippling insomnia.
The She-Hulk star, 39, recently opened up about her debilitating sleep disorder in a candid publication on Substack.
Jameela, who has been in a relationship with Grammy winner James Blake since 2015, also said her insomnia affects her sex drive and makes her "fully lose a grip on reality".
The actress, model and broadcaster wrote: "I would, without flinching, trade in all the success, money and adventures I've had to just be a good sleeper. Insomnia is the absolute ghetto of the mind, body and soul.
"It is years of the loneliest, darkest and most despairing hours in the middle of the night... It's a lower sex drive. It's nihilism and hopelessness. It's being desperate for donuts all f***ing day because you need some respite and consolation.
"Every suicide attempt I have ever made was a result of just that few too many days in a row without a wink of sleep."
Jameela now lives in Los Angeles in the US and is also an activist.
She describes herself as a 'feminist-in-progress' and uses her platform to advocate for disability rights, LGBTQ rights, body neutrality, and social justice.
She has spoken about her health conditions, including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and an eating disorder.
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Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
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The Guardian
40 minutes ago
- The Guardian
My cultural awakening: a Marina Abramović show helped me to stop hating my abusive father
On an unseasonably warm day in October 2023, I arrived, ahead of the queues, at London's Southbank Centre for a conceptual art takeover by the world-famous Marina Abramović Institute. I had recently read Marina's memoir Walk Through Walls, which had resonated. So, when I'd seen the event advertised – hours-long performances by artists she'd invited, curated and introduced by Marina – I bought a £60 ticket and waited for my time slot to enter the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I hadn't seen performance art before, and this was due to include her well-known work The Artist Is Present with an artist sitting, static and silent, in a chair all day, as Marina once did for an accumulated 736 hours and 30 minutes at the Museum of Modern Art. I felt certain that it would affect me, I just wasn't sure how. It came at an interesting time in my life. I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian family, the daughter of a priest who was physically abusive. I'd been in therapy for years, but my experiences still affected me and I'd recently cut contact with my father with my family. So, when I entered the first room at the Southbank where Marina was to spoke and introduce around a dozen artists, I was still coming to terms with this new way of dealing with my past. I was immediately drawn to one of the artists, a man from Myanmar who was to perform the chair piece with a cloth sack over his head. We heard how he'd been part of an organisation in Myanmar that opposed violence and therefore risked death if he was publicly identified. I was moved by what he was risking for his art. I also knew it was a hard piece; Marina wasn't going to give it to just anyone. As people moved between performers, I saw him, seated in the atrium, with a large crowd; I waited for a quieter moment to return. When I finally stood before him, I was overcome. I felt an urge to sit down in front of him and didn't care what others thought. I was compelled to do it for myself. I can't say how long I sat there, maybe an hour. In that time, I rewrote my definition of 'strength'. I used to think my father's aggression made him strong but now I saw someone using his muscular arms and legs to be still, for peaceful protest. I imagined the loss he must have experienced in war and the mental strength to sit there. I thought of what I'd read in Marina's book; how pain set in three hours into sitting still. I cried: the good tears, where you let part of your past go. It felt cleansing. When I left, I felt lighter. I decided that this would be my father figure now: this person who had strength but did not hurt me, who had reasons to be aggressive but did not direct his anger towards a six-year-old whispering in her brother's ear or disturbing his preaching, as my father had. It unlocked something in me. It gave me a positive male figure to replace what had gone before and helped me not to hate my father or men. It also unblocked the creativity that had laid dormant within me, an artistic side that had reminded me too much of my father's similar creative charisma. I started drawing: comic-books and illustrations. I'm an atheist but I believe there are spiritual moments you can choose to embrace: this, for me, was one. I think of it often. I even have the poster from the takeover in my toilet, serving as a daily reminder. I'm 41 and throughout life I've learned to expect the unexpected. Usually, when I go to see art it's to learn something new, and this was a big one. This changed me as a woman, as a soul, an immigrant, a creative, a child. That man gave himself to us as an artist and I accepted his gift. You can tell us how a cultural moment has prompted you to make a major life change by filling in the form below or emailing us on Please include as much detail as possible Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you include other people's names please ask them first.
