Bonnie Tyler has been placed into an induced coma in intensive care as her condition has worsened – just days after emergency intestinal surgery in Portugal.
The 74-year-old Skewen-born singer was rushed to Faro Hospital on 30 April after experiencing severe abdominal pain at her home in the Algarve.
Surgery to treat a perforated intestine had initially been described by her spokesperson as successful, with the singer said to be recuperating well.
But Tyler’s condition has taken a serious turn for the worse over the past few hours.
A spokesperson confirmed on Thursday evening that the global icon had been placed into an induced coma to support her recovery.
“Bonnie has been put into an induced coma by her doctors to aid her recovery,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson asked for privacy at what they described as a difficult time. “We know that you all wish her well and ask for privacy at this difficult time please. We will issue a further statement when we are able to,” they said.
Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã has reported that the singer has been moved from the intermediate care unit at Faro Hospital to the intensive care ward.
She is understood to require mechanical ventilation while she remains unconscious.
Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen in 1951, Tyler grew up in a council house in the Neath area before being discovered by talent scout Roger Bell at a Swansea club in the mid-1970s.
She launched her recording career with Lost in France in 1976, but it was Total Eclipse of the Heart in 1983 that cemented her status as a global superstar – spending two weeks at number one in the UK and four weeks at the top of the US charts.
The track has since become one of the most enduring pop songs of all time, passing the one billion streams mark on Spotify last year.
Tyler has been open about her health in recent years, but had recently said her main issues were with her knees – for which she had a surgical procedure that she described as successful.
Earlier this year she said she was quite fit for her age and had no intention of retiring. “I’m never going to retire. I look at Tom Jones. He’s amazing,” she said.
Her diary for the rest of the year had included a major performance at Malta’s SummerLUST Music Festival on 22 May, plus tour dates across Germany, Hungary, Czechia, Scotland and Turkey.
Those engagements now hang in the balance.
Tyler splits her time between her home in Mumbles and the Algarve, where she has lived since 1988.
Fans across Wales and around the world have been sending messages of support since news of her hospitalisation broke earlier this week.
Tyler has been married to property developer Robert Sullivan since 1973.
A further statement on her condition is expected when her family and medical team are able to provide one.
