Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, said that he unknowingly had a stroke while performing in Louisiana in 2024 — highlighting a worrying trend of younger people experiencing the condition.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘Here I am still copying Jamie Foxx,” he told fans at a music festival in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Strokes are more likely to happen in people aged 65 and over, but Glover was 41, while Foxx was 55 when he had one in 2023.
For both, the stroke started with a bad headache.
Glover told the crowd that he experienced a “really bad pain” in his head and vision difficulties.
“I couldn’t really see well,” the actor and musician said.
Glover said that at a hospital in Houston, the next stop on his 2024 The New World tour, doctors told him he’d had a stroke.
Glover postponed the tour and later canceled the remaining dates, telling fans that he had to focus on his “physical health,” in a since-deleted X post.
More young people are having strokes
A stroke happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is blocked or cut off, killing cells. It can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, or even death.
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of long-term disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although the risk of having a stroke increases with age, anyone can have one. The number of people under 50 who had a stroke for the first time increased by 36% between 1990 and 2021, according to a study published in May 2025 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
High blood pressure, BMI, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels, as well as pollution, could explain the rise, the authors said.
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F.A.S.T is an easy way to remember stroke symptoms
When someone having a stroke receives medical attention early, they are likely to experience less long-term damage. That’s why it’s crucial to know the warning signs.
- Face numbness or drooping.
- Arm weakness or the inability to raise both arms.
- Speech difficulty or slurring.
- Time to call 911 as soon as any of these symptoms appear.
Other stroke symptoms can include:
- Confusion, trouble speaking, or understanding speech.
- Trouble seeing in one or both eyes,
- Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or coordination.
- Severe, sudden headache.
