Halsey Battles Through Chemo as She Poised to Embark on Her “Back to Badlands” Tour
- Sep 29, 2025
- 3 min read
29 September 2025
At 31 years old, Halsey is confronting one of the toughest seasons of her life with resolve, openness, and a quiet determination. On September 26 she posted a TikTok video in which she shared that she had recently undergone a fresh round of chemotherapy and also had a new chemo port installed. These revelations come against a backdrop of ongoing health challenges, but also in the midst of the preparation for her upcoming Back to Badlands international tour an anniversary celebration of her debut album, Badlands.
Halsey was first publicly confronted with serious health issues in 2022 when she revealed a diagnosis of lupus (SLE) and later, a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder. Over time, she has also spoken about navigating conditions like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Sjögren’s syndrome, mast cell activation syndrome, POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), and endometriosis. In her new TikTok disclosure she delivered what she called a “speed round of updates” noting that she has just done “another few sessions of chemo” and had a new port placed for treatment delivery.
The timing of the update could not be more poignant. Her Back to Badlands tour is scheduled to launch October 14 in Los Angeles, at Hollywood Forever Cemetery a setting she and fiancé Avan Jogia even joked about during the video, when he directed her to the venue and quipped, “You’re gonna be in there soon.” She later clarified his meaning, laughing that she at first feared he meant something darker than the concert space. The singer’s birthday also falls shortly after the announcement, but she admitted she had been too wrapped up in planning and treatment to give it much thought.
Despite the health hurdles she faces, her tone in the post was resolute and charged with optimism. She described how she was putting together the tour and expressed excitement about revisiting the Badlands era in performance, with the original album back in the setlist alongside new surprises. She has also signaled that she will continue to lean on support from loved ones, including Jogia, whom she has previously credited for standing by her through the ups and downs of her health journey.
Fans responded swiftly, offering messages of love, strength, and support. Many expressed gratitude for her transparency. Some drew parallels between her courage and their own struggles with chronic illness, seeing in her bravery a source of shared hope. Others thanked her for making visible what can feel invisible to many: the relentless persistence it takes to create, live, and heal at the same time.
Halsey’s decision to speak publicly about her health and treatment at this juncture underscores how in recent years more artists have peeled back the curtain on chronic illness, mental health, and the tolls that lie behind performance. For her, the choice feels less like a disclosure and more like a commitment to authenticity, to grounding her art in lived experience, and to inviting her audience into the narrative rather than broadcasting from above it.
Her journey is not free of tension. Chemotherapy brings fatigue, vulnerability, and uncertainty. There may be days when concerts feel distant, when strength is taxed beyond what words can convey. But by pairing the news of treatment with the promise of a tour, she reminds us that creativity does not erase struggle, but can coexist with it.
As she readies to tour, Halsey’s dual task is immense: to protect her health, and to deliver a show worthy of the decade her career now spans. The Back to Badlands tour is not merely a retrospective it is a celebration that must be balanced with care.
If she can pull it off, the tour will be more than music. It will be testament: that art, even amid vulnerability, can serve as a bridge between endurance and expression. Halsey’s health update and her concert plans now stand side by side not in tension but in tandem.
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