Tracey Emin's intestines nearly exploded after horrible complications on flight

18 December 2023 , 11:35

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Tracey Emin has shared a health update with her followers

Artist Tracey Emin says she has used “another one of my nine lives”.

The 60-year-old has revealed she has been "very unwell" after her small intestine "nearly exploded" following an operation. She is recovering in Thailand after she fell ill on her way back to the UK from a trip to Australia. Tracey had attended the National Gallery of Victoria’s Triennial.

The artists has previously had cancer and undergone major surgery in recent years. Taking to her Instagram, she told her followers: "Not cancer but horrible complications with my intestines brought on by an infection, scar tissue and made a million times worse by flying.

Tracey is recovering in Thailand as she waits to return to the UK (AFP via Getty Images)

“My small intestine nearly exploded. Luckily for me I was in Thailand on my way back from Australia, so I spent a few days in a very good hospital and now recovering in luxury." She thanked a hospital and luxury hotel on the Thai island of Phuket and said she was “now on a special diet and will fly when I’m well enough”.

In 2015, the artist's bladder 'stopped working' while she was in hospital for appendicitis. As a result she suffered kidney reflux, with urine being fed back into her body where it manifested itself as lumps and bumps beneath her skin. During the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 she noticed a new kind of discomfort and started seeing blood on her catherters.

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An urgent MRI scan revealed a tumour in her bladder caused by squamous cell cancer - an extremely aggressive form of the disease. Tracey was told by doctors that they needed to act quickly to remove her bladder or she would be dead by Christmas of that year. She told The Times: "He said, ‘So we're going to remove your bladder and we're going to remove your uterus, your fallopian tubes, your ovaries, your lymph nodes, part of your colon, your urethra.’"

She continued: "I said to him, ‘Oh my God, anything else?’ And he said, ‘Yes, part of your vagina.’ And I went, ‘Oh f***ing hell.’" During a six and a half hour operation in July 2020, 12 surgeons removed what Tracey described to as, "half my body, including half my vagina."

Thankfully, her lymph nodes were found to be cancer-free and Tracey - who had been planning a new life in Margate at the time of her diagnosis - is now in remission and using a stoma bag. Emin is best known for works such as her unmade bed and the tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With.

She told Artnet she had been working on a painting of a malignant lump when the tumour in her bladder was discovered.Speaking about the painting, she told the publication: "It's exactly the same as my bladder with the tumour in it, before I knew I had the cancer - it's brilliant!"

Mia O'Hare