This summer, Justin Timberlake has been on tour in Europe, and Europeans have not been pleased with JT’s energy level. It’s been a discussion on social media for weeks, and even Justin’s biggest fans were disappointed by his (at times) “listless” concert performances, especially given the cost of the tickets. Well, Justin heard all of that conversation. On Thursday, he announced that he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, and that was one of the big reasons why his energy has been so depleted during the tour. From his Instagram:
Well, as these two incredible years come to an end and I look forward to the future, I wanted to write something from the heart. It’s not an easy task to try to contextualize the whirlwind of touring –– but, I will try…This has been the most fun, emotional, gratifying, physically demanding, and, at times, grueling experience. I have been doing this for 30+ years (which feels crazy to say) –– and have given all that I have to this. I could not have done it without my family, friends, The TN Kids, and all of YOUR support.
As many of you know, I’m a pretty private person. But as I’m reflecting on the tour and festival tour – I want to tell you a little bit about what’s going on with me.
Among other things, I’ve been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don’t say so you feel bad for me –– but to shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes. If you’ve experienced this disease or know someone who has — then you’re aware: living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness. I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out. I decided the joy that performing brings me far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling. I’m so glad I kept going.
Not only did I prove my mental tenacity to myself but, I now have so many special moments with all of you that I will never forget. I was reluctant to talk about this because I was always raised to keep something like this to yourself. But I am trying to be more transparent about my struggles so that they aren’t misinterpreted. Sharing all of this with the hope that we can all find a way to be more connected. I’d like to do my part to help others experiencing this disease too.
Bella Hadid has spoken at length about her Lyme disease and how having an “invisible illness” causes so much confusion and criticism. People who have Lyme disease can often have extreme fatigue, joint pain, headaches, loss of appetite and on and on. It can go on for years and years for many people. I feel like this answered a lot about Timberlake’s tour. I kind of wonder if there were additional reasons why Justin didn’t just cancel the tour soon after his diagnosis? I can understand how he simply didn’t know how his body would hold up, so maybe he thought it would be rash to cancel the tour. But I also wonder if he was looking at a big financial hit if he canceled. Anyway, I do feel sorry for him. I hope he gets some rest.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Berlin, GERMANY Justin Timberlake delivers an unforgettable performance at Berlin’s Olympiastadion during Lollapalooza Berlin 2025, defying the rain and energizing the crowd. Pictured: Justin Timberlake BACKGRID USA 12 JULY 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Berlin, GERMANY Justin Timberlake delivers an unforgettable performance at Berlin’s Olympiastadion during Lollapalooza Berlin 2025, defying the rain and energizing the crowd. Pictured: Justin Timberlake BACKGRID USA 12 JULY 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Paris, FRANCE Justin Timberlake, Raye, Nathy Peluso, Zaho, and the group Flo take the stage at the Lollapalooza festival in Paris on July 20, 2025, delivering memorable performances for festivalgoers. Pictured: Justin Timberlake BACKGRID USA 20 JULY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Chelmsford, UNITED KINGDOM Justin Timberlake commands the stage during a high-energy performance at Chelmsford Race Course. The singer kept fans on their feet as he ran through a mix of new hits and classic favourites. The outdoor crowd roared with excitement throughout the set. Pictured: Justin Timberlake BACKGRID USA 4 JULY 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Whatever. I still don’t like him and never will.
Lol thank you Aimee. Same. To this day my favorite Twitter post was him in handcuffs with the headline “Happy Juneteenth”
I feel the same way. Agh and now he makes me feel bad that I don’t have more sympathy for him. His message sounds more about shaming the critics than trying to shed light on an elusive disease.
Yeah, the diagnosis is a shame but he’s still a d-bag.
Mark my words, watch kate come up with a lyme disease diagnosis after spending time outdoors in the forest rubbed against trees to explain her empty agenda
Oh dang, I mean that would work for her, just saying.
So why do I not see back up dancers and vocalists in any of the videos? Knowing he had Lyme disease, he should have created an event, a spectacle. Instead he just wanders around on stage and literally drops his mic to let the background vocals roll.
I’m find the excuse suspicious…
agreed. i saw korn after jonathan davis had a bad case of covid and he acknowledged he wasn’t up to par- he had a chair to sit in and oxygen between songs and still put on a great show. illness happens, but the audience deserves a solid show even if justin can’t perform like he used to. he is a whiny brat
I hope he gets some rest and gets healthy. But Lyme disease doesn’t affect the vocal cords does it? Because at one point he wasn’t even singing.
Singing on a professional level is physically demanding.
If he felt ill, it is understandable, that he did not feel up to singing a whole concert.
I feel bad for him, but at the same time I’m glad a male celeb goes public with a invisible an often not properly diagnosed illness. I hope it helps against the “All in your head” stigma women face.
It can destroy your vocal cords. That’s how Shania Twain lost her voice. Same thing happened to me, though I never sang professionally.
I am no Justin fan, but singing involves the whole body, especially your core.
Also no Justin fan, but my sister has Lyme and it can get physically dibilitating.
I said last week when the article about the less than enthusiastic performances came out, that maybe this was a contractual obligation type of tour and his heart just wasn’t in it. But, if he has Lyme disease that explains a ton about not being able to muster up the energy for performances every single night.
He probably should have canceled the tour, but after the whole DUI last summer maybe he wasn’t in the space financially or career-wise where he could put it off.
He probably should have been upfront about it though, because he probably would have received a lot more grace and a lot more enthusiastic reception to the times where he asked people to sing along if they knew what was going on in the background. But your health is your health you can share as much as you want or as little with the public.
Is Lyme disease common?
It seems many celebrities have this disease…?
Not to in any way denigrate anyone who has a chronic illness, but I’ve seen it floated on Reddit that “lyme disease” may be becoming a shorthand in Hollywood for anything long term that they don’t want to say publicly.
That said, Timberlake may legitimately have it, we’re still working out how Lyme disease affects people.
For a while, celebrities were hospitalized for “exhaustion”, and I feel like some have moved on to Lyme. My in laws are in Maine, they know a few people with it (technically my brother in law has it? But it doesn’t affect him at all), but I don’t think they know as many people IRL as we hear about celebs with it. A childhood friend’s mom (a nurse), has it and the only thing that she thinks helped is bee stings? They were close to a Lyme disease vaccine, I don’t know what’s happened to that with the NHS RFK BS.
I hope if he’s legitimately ill that they figure out something that helps, but I would not be shocked at all for this to be an “exhaustion” issue.
@Lucy- I was just going to say that exact thing. As an elder millennial, Lyme is 1000% the new “exhaustion.”
This was my take, too. I don’t believe a word this man says. He certainly has not earned any public trust.
I live in one of the states with the highest rates of Lyme’s. It’s very common and the ability to diagnosis it is getting much better.
(New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, & Virginia)
I think JT lives in Tennessee or California. Those states are on the list of states that also have high rates.
JT is annoying but Lyme’s is horrible & can destroy a person’s life.
He was arrested in rural NY so he was definitely there recently.
Yeah I’ve always thought “Lyme Disease” was a celebrity euphemism for rehab, the same way celebrities use “intermittent fasting” as a euphemism for anorexia.
I’ve seen a lot of comments mocking this ” vodka lemonade and lyme”. I’m not sure how common it is or whether it is just where they all vacation or whether it is the new “exhaustion”. I feel bad for him if he really is suffering
Feels like the “hospitalized for exhaustion” PR excuse from the days of yore tbh.
Yeah, Lyme is the new exhaustion/dehydration/chikunguya aka a convenient excuse to get out of contractual obligations.
My favourite was, “in rehab for sex addiction “ – often used when a celebrity was busted for cheating one too many times.
Not here to defend Timberlake but as someone who’s father nearly died of a rare, tick-borne illness, I appreciate him speaking out about Lyme. I won’t get into the whole saga but my dad went from perfectly fine to a full-blown coma in the ICU within a week. It was terrifying.
With climate change, Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses are on the rise.
PSA: If you’re exploring areas with tall grass and deer, make sure you wear long garments if possible, bug spray, and always do a thorough tick-check afterwards, including your head. Also, support your local possums–they are one of a few friends that feed on tick, which are evil, parasitic creatures that bring nothing good to our ecosystem.
So sorry about your dad Kitten. That sounds so scary.
Thank you for informing everyone about possums. I used to tell my neighbours leave them alone! They really help with ticks and other bugs, but ticks especially!
My cousin was sick for a decade with undiagnosed Lyme Disease and it caused so many related health issues (arthritis and inflammation of the heart) that it contributed to his death. It’s not a disease to pooh-pooh or take lightly.
When Justin Bieber cancelled his tour, he was buried in debt since he got paid a lot in advance. I don’t know this Justin’s contract, but certainly he would lose money if he cancelled as well as all the people working in the tour. So, I understand it isn’t an easy decision for the performer to cancel it. On the other hand, people didn’t pay for this kind of performance. When his non-performance videos showed up online, I saw a lot of comments from people who saw him at the beginning of the tour that he wasn’t like that at their concert. So, I thought maybe he was bored or something. I think, his fans would be more understanding if he shared this before continuing the tour.
The thing about Lyme is that energy levels often fluctuate with flare-ups. So presumably, he could have started off the tour feeling relatively fine and then experienced a sudden onslaught of fatigue with a flare-up. Keep in mind the fatigue associated with Lyme isn’t merely feeling tired, it’s debilitating exhaustion, often compared to the sensation of walking through quicksand.
And I’m not saying that’s what happened–I don’t know–but if we grant him the grace to take him at his word, Lyme would definitely explain a shitty performance due to a complete lack of energy.
“Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out. ”
I assumed he was diagnosed during the tour and he decided to continue performing. If he signed the contracts for the tour after getting diagnosed, that is sh*tty thing to do not only to his fans, but also to himself.
Exactly, Kitten.
I could see him signing on to do a tour before getting his diagnosis (it can take awhile) or he thought he could handle it if his flare ups were infrequent or well managed with meds. He might’ve also thought that he was otherwise healthy enough to push through a flare up.
I have a lot of compassion for people with Lyme’s.
I watched a clip of his lackluster tour performance and it was startlingly different from the energetic performances he used to do. I thought that something was off with his health when I watched it.
My MIL has Lyme’s and is also very mentally ill. Her flare ups are… uffda… intense on a level I’ve never seen. Poor woman.
When I worked in ortho clinic I learned so much about Lyme’s and how it’s difficult to diagnose when you already have other health issues going on.
It’s odd how there’s a concentration of extremely rich people getting a disease that’s not recognized by the medical community as being real. You’d think by now there would be enough of them to throw a few dollars behind extensive research into studying it and proving it actually exists, and isn’t just a cover excuse for celebrities aging, drug and alcohol-related issues, long covid, or anything else they don’t want to say in public, say a lackluster tour performance.
Lyme disease and its hardships as well as post-treatment lyme disease syndrome are very real and terrible, but that’s weirdly not what any of these famous people are saying they’re getting.
What do you mean the medical community doesn’t recognize it as real? There used to be a vaccine for it but pulled it bc it wasn’t profitable. They know it’s real.
@steph, yes lyme disease is real. “Chronic lyme disease” is not recognized.
Lyme disease, the infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi which is present in some ticks is recognized by the scientific community. That “chronic Lyme disease” without any trace of bacterial infection, that you can only be diagnosed by very expensive tests provided by non-recognized labs, whose management apparently still requires heavy doses of antibiotics (despite no bacterial infection) and vitamins, that is not recognized for obvious reasons
@beth @arpeggi so they aren’t recognizing/ acknowledging long term post infection symptoms? That’s so crazy to me. If the initial infection can damage anything there’s always a risk of long term issues.
@Steph, in order for post-infection symptoms to happen, there needs to have been an infection at one point, which is usually not the case with these “chronic Lyme diagnosis”, no antibodies against Borrelia, nothing.
Olivier Bernard did a great podcast series about Chronic Lyme quacks, it’s in French though
@Steph, for the average person, Lyme disease is very hard and expensive to diagnose. My sister (Canadian), had to send things to Germany for a diagnosis as there wasn’t anything available in Canada that doctors would recognize. Even with a confirmed diagnosis, it’s a fight for her with ever new doctor, locum, er nurse, etc. and many of them side eye her heavily.
That may be why it seems so many celebrities are able to be diagnosed. They have the money and the influence so they don’t have to go through years of fighting the system the same way other do.
I agree with @Beth, that it would be great if there were more understanding and knowledge and acceptance of it in society and in medical practitioners.
I completely agree. Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Shania Twain, Bella Hadid……sometimes I wonder if this is truly real. Plus, what’s with so many being Canadian performers?
Canada: rural + wilderness = higher rates of Lyme’s ticks and ticks in general.
Celebrities: money + need to physically perform their jobs + means to affored buying swaths of rural land = access to medical care, need to perform for their career, might have grown up in a rural area (Shania) or retreat to their rural acreage when not performing
Of course the medical community recognizes it as a real illness. I think you may be mistaking this for chronic fatigue syndrome (which I had many years ago, it’s real and it’s horrible). Canada has vast swathes of countryside full of deer that carry the ticks. I remember walking through a field in Manitoba on a trip across country and seeing literally dozens of ticks crawling up my legs.
Meh. I’m not going to dismiss his diagnosis and how it effected him for his tour. However, he had a responsibility upon learning his diagnosis and the possible symptoms to manage is fans expectations and charge accordingly.
Sure Jan…
This moron can’t take responsibility for anything. Even if he DID have Lyme (big if), he should’ve canceled the tour or given people a heads up that they were paying a lot of $$$ for low-energy Justin. Instead we get a self-serving post about how he’s such a big boy for putting his pants on and going to work every day. Please.
Ah thank you, this is exactly how his statement sounds to me, too. He is butthurt about the criticism, so he shames us for it. And it’s bad because no one will by his tickets after those damning videos everyone saw, his acting always sucked so what else is left for him.
The only people I have ever known to get Lyme’s disease are celebrities. Are they out in the woods that much?
I know several people who contracted it — including my cousin who ended up dying of Lyme-related cardiac disease. Celebrities often own large country estates — it’s not something strictly confined to woods, in fact if you walk through just about any field in north america you will see ticks. Anywhere there is a strong deer population you run the risk of getting it.
When I lived in the northeast, I met quite a few young people, from Nj and Conn, that had Lyme disease and it actually affected them quite a bit despite being young. So I have a lot of sympathy for it. JT coming out to say he has it after the criticism of his tour is a choice. He very well could and it could explain the lethargy of his tour. But let’s be real, he’s been struggling with a number of things over the years. Fidelity. Alcohol. Asshole syndrome. But I’m not necessarily mad about him raising awareness on Lyme disease. Although it sounds like quite a few celebs are also doing so. Hopefully, they are helping in making testing easier and more accessible for others.
I find it difficult to believe that he didn’t have health exceptions written into his tour contract. He’s not a singer just beginning his career; surely he still has some leverage, though not as much as when he was younger. And he may have faced some financial hits, but he chose to have his fans suffer the consequences rather than facing them himself. He has t changed much. 😒
I wonder if he asked the tick “what about the world tour?!?!”
A nurse friend who worked with an infectious disease specialist said that people who have access to medical care seem to be diagnosed more frequently but it’s only because they can afford it. There is a large group of people who feel ill but simply do not have a regular physician or insurance and cannot private pay.
NGL, I had a “Sure, Jan” response to this “news”.
If he actually does have lyme disease, it sucks. All auto immune disorders sucks. (speaking from experience).