A family member has confirmed reports that the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is on her death bed in a hospital in her native Detroit. Aretha’s cousin Cendia Franklin tells RadarOnline exclusively that the singer is “very ill”.
“She has been under the weather for months. A lot of her family is around her, supporting her,” Cendia tells Radar.
Roger Friedman originally broke the news on his Showbiz411 blog on Saturday.
He said Aretha is surrounded by family and people close to her. “The family is asking for prayers and privacy.”
Aretha, 76, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010. She battled back but her cancer relapsed in late 2017.
Photos above show Aretha’s progressive weight loss over a 7 month period in 2017.
The top right photo was taken on April 19, 2017 during the “Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives” Premiere Concert at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The top left photo was taken 7 months later, on Nov. 2, at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Gala concert in NYC, after Aretha had suffered a relapse.
Director and playwright Tyler Perry presented the Queen off Soul with the Vanguard Award during the 39th NAACP Image Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium on February 14, 2008 in Los Angeles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBbyglq37E
Photos by Noam Galai/Getty Images, Theo Wargo/Getty Images, Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images, Jesse Grant/Getty Images
