SAO PAULO (AP) — Veteran singer and poet Patti Smith has reassured fans that she is "fine” after collapsing during a presentation in Brazil and later returning to apologize to the audience for ending her show early. Video published on social media showed the 78-year-old lying on the stage of the venue in Sao Paulo on Wednesday night. “I’m fine.
You can hear I’m fine,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday morning when reached by phone. “The whole thing has been grossly exaggerated.” She added that a statement she published on her Instagram, in which she said she had experienced post-migraine dizziness, “speaks for itself.
” “I was checked out by an excellent doctor and was absolutely fine. Please do not accept any other account. With all the strife in the world, this explainable incident does not merit so much attention,” Smith posted.
The Cultura Artística Theater said that Thursday's evening performance would happen as scheduled. Smith has been in Sao Paulo for a two-day presentation of the “Correspondences” project with the Berlin-based group Soundwalk Collective. During the performance, she recited some of her writings alongside musicians.
Soundwalk Collective said that Smith had suffered from an intense migraine for the past couple of days but “still wanted to be there for all of us and you and perform.” The group posted a statement, signed by them and Smith, to their Instagram stories. Smith collapsed about 30 minutes into the event .
