Latest news with #Lavigne
Business Insider
31-07-2025
- Health
- Business Insider
16 celebrities who have spoken about having Lyme disease
Justin Timberlake shared his diagnosis shortly after wrapping up his world tour. On Thursday, while wrapping up his world tour, the singer shared his diagnosis in an Instagram post. "Among other things, I've been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don't say so you feel bad for me —— but to shed some light on what I've been up against behind the scenes," he wrote. "If you've experienced this disease or know someone who has — then you're aware: living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically." Timberlake was "shocked" at first, but this diagnosis helped explain some of the "crazy fatigue" and "nerve pain" he'd been feeling. Though he debated ending his tour early, he wrote, he's glad he chose to keep going. " … I was reluctant to talk about this because I was always raised to keep something like this to yourself," he continued. "But I am trying to be more transparent about my struggles so that they aren't misinterpreted.'" In 2020, Amy Schumer shared that she'd been diagnosed with Lyme disease. In September 2020, Schumer shared on Instagram that she has Lyme disease and "maybe had it for years." Seeing as this disease is the "great imitator" with a range of symptoms, it's possible she could've experienced Lyme symptoms for quite some time without realizing it. In an Instagram post that same year, the comedian said she was taking doxycycline, an oral antibiotic, to treat the condition, and she also asked others for advice. Justin Bieber has been open about his experiences with Lyme disease. In January 2020, the singer wrote on Instagram that it's been a "rough couple of years" battling the disease. Bieber explained that, for a long time, people speculated that he was "on meth," but failed to realize that he'd actually recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease. He wrote that he'd also been struggling with "a serious case of chronic mono which affected my skin, brain function, energy, and overall health." Avril Lavigne is now an advocate for those with the illness. Lavigne spoke about her struggle with Lyme disease in a June 2015 interview with "Good Morning America," revealing that she'd been bedridden in October 2014. She called that the "worst time" in her life after seeing specialists and doctors who misdiagnosed her with chronic fatigue syndrome and depression. In October 2018, the "Complicated" singer told Billboard she felt unwell during her 2014 tour and couldn't get out of bed as her symptoms progressively got worse. During one of her darkest days battling with side effects of the disease, Lavigne said she wrote her 2018 song "Head Above Water," telling Billboard, "I had accepted that I was dying ... And literally under my breath, I was like, 'God, help me keep my head above the water.'" She has also started the Avril Lavigne Foundation, which aims to bring awareness to those dealing with Lyme and other serious illnesses and disabilities. Ben Stiller said he had trouble getting an accurate diagnosis. In 2011, Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter about his Lyme disease, saying, "I got it in Nantucket, Massachusetts, a couple of years ago. My knee became inflamed and they couldn't figure out what it was, then they found out it was Lyme." "I'm symptom-free now, but Lyme doesn't ever leave your system. It's a really tough thing," he said. Shania Twain has said Lyme affected her career. Twain dominated the pop and country charts in the 1990s and early 2000s, but by 2004, she had issues with her vocal cords, which she attributed to contracting Lyme disease. In 2017, she told Canadian news outlet CBC that she was bitten by a tick when on tour in Norfolk, Virginia. She said she saw it fall off her, and she immediately began to see troubling Lyme disease symptoms pop up. "I was on tour, so I almost fell off the stage every night. I was very, very dizzy and didn't know what was going on. It's just one of those things you don't suspect," she added. It took Twain years to figure out that she had dysphonia, a neurological disorder of the vocal cords in which muscles can spasm and impact speech, which she attributes to the Lyme bacteria. She now warns others about the disease. Lyme "is very dangerous because you have a very short window to catch it and then treat it and then even when you treat it, you could still very well be left with effects, which is what happened to me," Twain told CBC. "It's a debilitating disease and extremely dangerous. You can't play around with it, so you've got to check yourself for ticks." Kelly Osbourne went undiagnosed for nearly a decade. In her 2017 book "There Is No F*cking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch," the former reality star shared she'd unknowingly been battling Lyme disease for years. She explained that her mom, Sharon, purchased her dad, Ozzy, a reindeer sanctuary for their home in England for his 56th birthday in 2004. She said shortly after she was bitten by a tick, which Ozzy burned off her. For years after, she experienced "traveling pain," ranging from stomach aches to a sore throat. She said it took quite some time to finally get a Lyme diagnosis. Osbourne wrote that she was initially afraid to speak publicly about Lyme disease because "it seems like the trendy disease to have right now, and I'm tired of seeing sad celebrities play the victim on the cover of weekly mags," but that she now acts as her own health advocate. Ally Hilfiger wrote about her experience with the disease in a memoir. In her book "Bite Me: How Lyme Disease Stole My Childhood, Made Me Crazy, and Almost Killed Me," Hilfiger chronicled her experience with the invisible illness and the all-too-visible symptoms that followed. In 2016, the designer told Health magazine, "I remember getting bit by a tick and my parents sent it off to the labs. And we got inconclusive tests back." For 10 years, she said, multiple doctors gave her a variety of diagnoses from fibromyalgia to rheumatoid arthritis. She told the magazine that finally receiving the correct diagnosis felt like she "won the lottery." The emotional struggles is just as hard as the physical ones, according to the fashion designer. "One of the biggest issues I think a lot of Lyme sufferers have is that some days you can have good days. And other days you can feel really feel horribly and not be able to get out of bed," she told Health. "And sometimes you start to doubt whether or not you're really feeling what your feeling, if that makes any sense. And you feel disbelieved." In 2014, Debbie Gibson shared she'd been privately dealing with the illness. After fans expressed their concern about her appearance in social-media photos, Gibson took to her blog in April 2014 to give an update on her health, sharing she'd begun experiencing Lyme symptoms in early 2013. She wrote that she first felt anxiety and sensitivity to certain foods, then began feeling unique pain and muscle fatigue she'd never had before. She added, "I got tested for everything under the sun, though it did not occur to me, or my West Coast doctors, to test for Lyme. It is typically an East Coast thing." Gibson began losing weight and experiencing symptoms of depression, adding, "I could barely walk. I started feeling numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, which is very disconcerting for a pianist and dancer, to say the least. Night sweats, chills, fever, nerve tremors, nightmares, and migraine headaches were at a fever pitch without a minute of relief." After a long journey to find the correct diagnosis, the "I Love You" singer was able to begin treatment. In recent years, she's spoken about learning to manage her symptoms. "I've learned how to overcome. I've never said I'm struggling with Lyme [disease], I say I'm overcoming Lyme," she told People in 2023. "So, I've really overcome a lot and I just remain diligent and consumed with my body and my mind and it's working." Alec Baldwin has spoken about experiencing Lyme symptoms. During a 2011 interview with The New York Times, the "Saturday Night Live" actor mentioned that he had chronic Lyme disease. Baldwin didn't mention his diagnosis again until 2017 when he spoke onstage at an event benefiting the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. According to People magazine, he told the crowd he'd been bitten by a tick 17 years prior and was bitten again a few years later. "I got the classic Lyme disease (symptoms) for each successive summer, for five years, every August, like [these] black lung, flu-like symptoms, sweating to death in my bed," he said. "The first time was the worst of all," he recalled. "And I really thought, 'This is it, I'm not going to live.' ... I was lying in bed saying, 'I'm going to die of Lyme disease,' in my bed.'" He said he and his wife, Hilaria, remain vigilant about checking their dogs and children for ticks. Jamie-Lynn Sigler said she was diagnosed with Lyme disease and multiple sclerosis within a short period. When Sigler was 19 years old and starring on HBO's hit "The Sopranos," she learned she had Lyme disease. Shortly after, in 2016, she told People magazine, "I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) when I was 20 years old. It was a shock, it was surprising." "I had been diagnosed with Lyme disease the year before, so to get the diagnosis was confusing, and also strange because I didn't feel sick. I didn't feel that anything was wrong." She'd taken antibiotics, a standard course of treatment for early-stage Lyme, "and things had started to go away," she said. Daryl Hall has spoken about Lyme disease and tick bites. In 2005, the duo Hall and Oates canceled a tour, sharing that Hall had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. In 2011, Hall spoke about his experiences, explaining how he contracted the disease and his journey to health. "I got it the way everybody gets it," he said. "I've lived in the country for many, many years ... it's a hotbed of deer and other wildlife animals. I'd been bitten over the years so many times and I think it finally reached a critical mass and I crashed and burned about five years ago." He said he experienced a wide range of ailments, from allergies and fever-like symptoms to aches, pains, and tremors. After being tested, he learned he had "six or seven tick-borne diseases." Hall said he saw a Lyme literate doctor who helped treat him and advised individuals with constantly changing symptoms "to get tested for Lyme disease because the symptoms mimic so many other things." Thalía Mottola began feeling ill during pregnancy in 2007. Mottola spent most of the 1990s and early 2000s dominating the Latin music charts, but in 2007, at the end of her first pregnancy, the "No Me Acuerdo" singer began feeling unwell. By the time she gave birth, she was unknowingly dealing with a full-blown case of Lyme disease. In her 2011 memoir "Growing Stronger," she explained that doctors tried to convince her she was suffering from postpartum depression, writing, "I continued to feel like I had been run over by a truck that had dragged me for a thousand miles, along with a steamroller that had crushed every last bone in my body. I literally thought I was dying." When she found the energy to research online, she started seeing Lyme specialists, eventually undergoing two years of "heavy treatments." Kathleen Hanna dealt with Lyme disease symptoms for over a decade before being properly diagnosed. Hanna stepped away from her band, Le Tigre, in 2005, citing personal health issues as the reason for her hiatus. Years later, she attributed those issues to an undiagnosed case of Lyme disease. After multiple misdiagnoses — from multiple sclerosis to lupus and panic attacks — she saw a 2008 documentary called "Under Our Skin" about the Lyme epidemic and realized that a tick bite she got in 2005 could still be causing her health problems, even though she'd been treated with a standard course of antibiotics for Lyme disease at the time. She experienced debilitating symptoms over the course of several years that made her unable to move or speak at times, and she began to heal after two years of "intensive therapy," according to The New York Times. Yolanda Hadid is one of the most outspoken celebrity voices spreading awareness of the disease. Hadid was a cast member on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" in 2012, but viewers didn't know that behind the scenes, she was dealing with symptoms of chronic Lyme disease. In the past decade, she's become known as a public advocate for those with Lyme while documenting her own debilitating neurological and physical symptoms and how she's coped with them. In 2017, she published the memoir "Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease." "Most people still don't seem to believe that chronic Lyme disease even exists," she told Vogue in 2023. "As the saying goes: You don't truly get it until you get it." Bella Hadid has also spoken about having Lyme disease. In late 2015, after going public with her diagnosis, Yolanda said that her daughter, Bella Hadid, has Lyme disease, too. On August 6, 2023, the model posted a series of photos on Instagram of her receiving shots and undergoing medical procedures alongside a long caption. " … I am okay and you do not have to worry, and 2:I wouldn't change anything for the world. If I had to go through all of this again, to get here, to this exact moment I'm in right now, with all of you, finally healthy, I would do it all again. It made me who I am today," she wrote. She continued, " … I have so much gratitude for and perspective on life , this 100+ days of Lyme, chronic disease , co infection treatment, almost 15 years of invisible suffering, was all worth it if I'm able to, God willing, have a lifetime of spreading love from a full cup, and being able to truly be myself … " This story was originally published in November 2018 and most recently updated on July 31, 2025.
Daily Mail
29-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Mom who claims woke school hid 13-year-old's gender transition suffers crushing court defeat
A mom in Maine suffered a crushing defeat in court following claims that a woke school hid her child's gender transition from her and their family. Amber Lavigne, of Wiscasset, discovered a chest binder in her 13-year-old child's room when the then-eighth grader was at a school dance in December 2022. Yet, an appeal for the lawsuit Lavigne launched against the school in 2023 has dismissed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Lavigne's child said, at the time, that the binder - a garment used to flatten the chest of the wearer - was bought for them by a social worker named Sam Roy at Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta. In her appeal, Lavigne argued that her claims 'sufficiently establish the existence of a policy or custom of withholding... the district court erred in declining to address the first element of municipal liability, and her allegations established that the Board violated her right to direct the education of her child.' According to documents, the court concluded in her appeal that 'Lavigne's allegations fail to plausibly show that either the Board had a policy of withholding or that the Board later ratified the individual defendants' decision to withhold information from Lavigne.' The court furthered that Lavigne did not provide 'sufficient' evidence to argue of a policy or custom for withholding and concealing information. 'None of [Lavigne's] allegations support the inference that the Board maintained an unwritten custom or policy of withholding information from parents,' court documents said. 'Without this factual support, Lavigne's contention that the school acted pursuant to an unwritten "blanket policy, pattern, and practice of intentional withholding and concealment of such information from all parents" is based solely on her "information and belief".' The mother and her lawyers demanded, at the time of the initial lawsuit, a 'full investigation into Mr. Roy's decision to give a 13-year-old girl an undergarment without notice, consent or involvement of her mother.' They also claimed the school's actions broke the Fourteenth Amendment by blocking Lavigne's fundamental constitutional right to control and direct the education, upbringing, and healthcare decisions of her daughter,' Adam Shelton, a lawyer at Goldwater, wrote in a letter. The school district was further accused by Lavigne of withholding and concealing her child's transition, including the use of a name and pronouns that were not assigned to the child at birth. The law firm argued that although students have confidential access to mental healthcare through school, social transitioning is 'not protected by statutory confidentiality'. 'The "social transitioning" of Ms. Lavigne's daughter without her notice, consent, or involvement in the process alone violated her constitutional rights,' the letter said. 'But even if secrecy were required by Maine law, such secrecy would still violate Ms. Lavigne's constitutional rights. Ms. Lavigne has a clearly established constitutional right to control and direct the education, upbringing, and healthcare decisions of her child. The actions of the School, school employees, and the District have violated that right.' Lavigne pulled her child from the school, allowing her daughter to cut her hair short but still referring to her by feminine pronouns. The mother told National Review that she believes her daughter is still her daughter at heart and that she acts femininely when she's not thinking about it. She added that she was not opposed to her daughters eventual transition, and said: 'If she at 18 starts taking testosterone and decides to mutilate her body, am I going to express to her some concerns? Absolutely,' she told the National Review. 'Am I going to write my kiddo off? Never in a million years. This is my baby girl. At the end of the day, I'm not going to destroy my relationship with my child to be right.' 'At the end of the day, she is who she is,' the mother said. 'If she thinks she's going to live a more fulfilled life as a male, that's up for her to decide as an adult. At 13, it's up to me to safeguard my child against doing things to her body that she can't reverse.'
Daily Maverick
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
From TMO madness to English ‘pies' — why did they have to go and make things so complicated?
Several huge sports events suffer from complex rules, leading to anticlimactic viewing. Somewhere in a time long ago (2002 to be precise), my oldest child drove me slightly crazy by constantly demanding a particular song by Avril Lavigne. The chorus of that hit came echoing back this weekend as I attempted to indulge in what I thought would be a cornucopia of top-level, global, highly competitive sport – the second Test between the Wallabies and British & Irish Lions, England versus India Test cricket, the climax of the Tour de France and the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix. As each of those events progressed (or didn't) in increasingly bewildering ways, I found myself channelling Lavigne and singing loudly: 'Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?' At one point I was switching between elite F1 drivers doing the first four laps of the mere 44 they were going to be allowed in a 20-minute uncompetitive procession behind a safety car, elite cyclists drifting through the countryside drinking champagne and elite cricketers arguing about whether they should be on the field at all given that the Test was grinding towards a draw. The day before, the thrilling series-deciding second rugby Test between the Wallabies and Lions ended up, inevitably, with everyone watching lengthy slow-motion TV replays to determine whether the Lions' last-gasp try would stand. What we saw was a highly dangerous assault on a Wallaby neck or a perfect clean-out, depending entirely on your bias. My conclusion was that it was probably both. It was legitimate but shouldn't be. And it was definitely anticlimactic and unsatisfactory. The entire thing was the apex of the television match official (TMO) madness which has descended on rugby and means its myriad complex laws are being second- and third-guessed all the time. The authorities need to be asked the Lavigne question. 'Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?' Judgement calls TMO's should be for groundings over the try line and seriously dangerous or foul play which the on-field officials have not seen (an important qualification). Leave the rest to the judgement of the guys with a whistle and flags. If the occasional marginally forward pass, tiny knock-on, head-on-shoulder contact or truck-and-trailer side-entry channel block (I made that up but it could be a thing for all I know) gets missed, then so be it. If the disciplinary committee post-match wants to reassess dangerous-play calls and impose bans, then that's okay, but let's not stop the game for a Supreme Court hearing. Meanwhile, back at the venerable Spa-Francorchamps F1 circuit (a legendary track beautifully set in the Ardennes Forest which could soon be replaced by a soulless expansion venue in Thailand), the torturous rules of that sport were, yet again, getting in the way of a decent contest. Rain was causing issues but watching cars parked for an hour in sunshine and then not compete for one-10th of the shortened 'race' before a 'rolling start', which is nothing like the drama of a normal start, probably made cautious sense somewhere in a rule book but made none at all to an average punter like me. I still do not understand what happened to Lewis Hamilton back in 2021 when he was cruising to a world title over Max Verstappen until some random behind him crashed and his substantial lead was wiped out by the safety car and some drivers were 'unlapped' and some changed tyres but he couldn't. F1 measures things to milliseconds on lap times and milligrams of vehicle weight and yet cannot contrive a system where a safety car means the gaps remain the same as they were before it came out. And then we have the compelling yet bizarre dance that is the Tour de France. So many questions. Why don't they race properly for most of the final day? Why do the main riders stop when a leader crashes? Why are some teams complaining that one team 'wins too many stages'? Why is it unacceptable to attack in a particular way but not in others? Why is the best rider on the day often reined in to help his teammate rather than going for the stage win? In short, 'why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?' And then, the world-champion sport on rules and etiquette complexity, Test match cricket, really kicked in. England were frustrated on the final day at Old Trafford by some superb rearguard batting from India, which gained them a draw and kept an excellent series alive. Once a decisive outcome was impossible, the English team felt everyone should shake hands and get off work early. India captain Shubman Gill, rightly, was having none of it because he wanted his not-out batters to reach their hundreds and to tire out his opponents (who had invited this fate by putting them into bat after winning the toss) before the decisive Test starting on Thursday. The English then sulked and bowled what we used to call 'pies' – part-timers delivering rubbish. It was an unedifying and completely uncompetitive spectacle. And one that is almost impossible to explain to anyone other than a Test cricket tragic.
Express Tribune
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Avril Lavigne reunites with ex-husband Deryck Whibley for performance at Vans Warped Tour
Avril Lavigne recently reunited with her ex-husband Deryck Whibley during her performance at the Vans Warped Tour in Washington, DC, where the pair played a set together. The Canadian singer shared a heartfelt message on Instagram, expressing her excitement about performing with Whibley, known for his role in the band Sum 41. Lavigne, 40, and Whibley, 45, were married from 2006 to 2009, after becoming engaged in 2005. Their marriage ended when Lavigne was 24, citing the feeling that she had married too young. Despite their divorce, the two appear to remain on good terms. Whibley made a surprise appearance during Lavigne's headline set, joining her to perform the pop-punk anthem In Too Deep by Sum 41. Lavigne praised her ex-husband, calling him 'a legend' and describing the crowd's energy as one of the best she had ever experienced at the festival. Their reunion comes at a challenging time for Whibley, who has been battling serious health issues. Last year, he was hospitalised with pneumonia and Covid-19, which led to complications including heart failure. His wife, Ariana, shared the distressing news on Instagram, explaining that his heart was under significant strain due to the inflammatory condition caused by pneumonia. Fans were excited to see the ex-couple performing together, and many commented on the sweetness of their relationship and mutual respect. One fan shared their appreciation, saying, 'I love to see the respect you and Deryck have for each other!' Others were moved by their ability to remain friends despite their past, with many likening it to seeing their divorced parents getting along. Lavigne's relationship history includes a second marriage to Nickelback's Chad Kroeger in 2013, which ended in 2015, and a brief engagement to Mod Sun in 2021, which also ended in 2023. Despite the ups and downs, Lavigne and Whibley's ongoing friendship highlights their enduring bond and mutual respect.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
2000s Pop Star, 40, Unrecognizable on Recent Tour Stop: ‘I Would Not Have Known That's Her?'
2000s Pop Star, 40, Unrecognizable on Recent Tour Stop: 'I Would Not Have Known That's Her?' originally appeared on Parade. Avril Lavigne is not a teenage pop star anymore. The 40-year-old Sk8er Boi singer left fans surprised by her grown-up appearance at a recent stop on her Greatest Hits tour, which began in May 2024 and is scheduled to run through the end of June 2025. Video shared to social media from a recent tour date showed Lavigne with a more mature look, prompting one fan to write, 'I would not have known that's her?'Some things haven't changed over time for the Girlfriend singer. Lavigne still sports her long platinum blonde tresses and signature pop-punk style—this time in an oversized black T-shirt, short denim shorts, and knee-high black leather boots. The comment section wasn't entirely kind about Lavigne's current look, but most fans were supportive and enthusiastic. One wrote, 'still cute as hell,' while another shared, 'I'll always be a bit in love with her.'We think she looks and sounds terrific. Maybe the biggest surprise is that Avril Lavigne is 40. That must mean we're getting older, too. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 2000s Pop Star, 40, Unrecognizable on Recent Tour Stop: 'I Would Not Have Known That's Her?' first appeared on Parade on Jun 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
