Author Cheryl Strayed canceled her upcoming appearances as her husband, Brian Lindstrom, navigates an undisclosed health scare.
“My beloved husband, Brian, has been diagnosed with a serious, fatal illness and, for that reason, I had to cancel my writing workshop at Kripalu and also my appearance at Hunter College this week,” Strayed, 57, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, April 30. “My apologies to those of you who made plans to be there.”
She continued, “I simply cannot do anything but be with my family right now and see to our broken hearts. I ask that you hold us in your thoughts, prayers, light and love.”
Strayed, who has been married to Lindstrom since 1999, did not further disclose his condition. She also defended posting on social media amid his health battle.
“If it seems emotionally dissonant to see me posting cheerful clips from my podcast each week, now and over the coming several weeks, it is for me too,” she added on Thursday. Those interviews, which I loved doing, were recorded previously, in easier, happier times.”
Several of Strayed’s social media followers offered their support in the comments section.
“Prayers are with you 🙏🏼,” Hilary Swank replied, while Adriene Mishler added, “Cheryl, thank you for modeling care and connection. ❤️My heart is with you and yours and we are here for you as you are for so many. All my love.”
Michaela Watkins, for her part, called Strayed’s update “very gutting” to read.
“May miracles of mending technology find you,” Watkins, 54, wrote on Thursday. “May your love of each other and of those who love you hold you so so tight. We are all with you in this pain.”
Strayed is a renowned author, best known for her 2012 memoir, Wild. In the book, she completed a months-long hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to cope with the death of her mother.
“My mother’s death brought me to what I think of as my most savage self. It stripped me of the one thing I needed,” the writer recalled in a 2022 interview. “My mother was the taproot of my life. And suddenly, I didn’t have that anymore. I had wild love for my mother. I had wild sorrow. And then I went wild. I went wild into my life.”
She continued at the time, “The most important thing I hope readers will take away from Wild is the realization that I’m not different from them. I’m not any more courageous or brave than anybody else. I have plenty of fears. I could walk down this driveway and get creeped out by, you know, a sound.”
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