Taylor Swift ‘devastated’ as fan, 23, dies ahead of her Brazil concert: ‘Overwhelmed by grief’
Taylor Swift said she was “overwhelmed by grief” after a 23-year-old fan died ahead of her “Eras Tour” concert in Brazil Friday night.
The “Anti-Hero” hitmaker, 33, revealed the tragedy and mourned her fan’s death after she performed the first of three nights at Rio de Janeiro’s Estádio Nilton Santos.
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show,” the 12-time Grammy winner wrote on her Instagram Story.
“I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
The fan was identified as Ana Clara Benevides, 23, according to Brazilian newspaper Fohla de S Paulo
The outlet noted that Benevides sat near the stage railing and suffered a cardiac arrest after fainting as a result of the sweltering heat.
The concertgoer’s friend, Thiago Fernandes, 22, said Benevides was revived for 40 minutes before suffering another cardiac arrest on the way to a nearby hospital.
Swift said she will not be speaking about the tragic news when she takes the stage Saturday night as she feels “overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it.”
“I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends,” she went on. “This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”
The news comes just hours after temperatures in Rio de Janeiro reached heights of 100 degrees across the country, prompting the singer to make sure her fans had access to water during her 3-hour performance.
Swift often paused her show several times Friday night to ask security to provide struggling fans with water bottles amid an excessive heat warning.
In a social media video, Swift can be seen waving down staffers as fans chanted, “Water, water, water.”
“There’s people that need water right here, maybe 30, 35, 40 feet back,” she says in one clip. “So whoever is in charge of giving them that, just make sure that happens. Can I get a signal that you know where they are?”
The “End Game” hitmaker, who is currently on the second leg of her global sold-out tour, is set to take to the stage again in Rio on Saturday and Sunday night.
Her next stop is São Paulo, Brazil, which marks her final stint of the 2023 tour leg before she takes a break for the holidays and resumes in Feb. 2024.
