The singer-songwriter was forced to interrupt his tour in 2015 after taking an anti-malaria treatment with violent side effects.
Do not talk anymore about Lariam at Stromae: This anti-malaria drug has killed his life in the air and he still complains about adverse effects two years after taking it. “There’s a before and after Lariam,” the singer told Marianne magazine.
Today, I am still sensitive to anxiety attacks. I have had to go back to the emergency room in the hospital. I have little regret in my life, but if I could go back and avoid taking Lariam, I would do it without hesitation … “
Some side effects of the drug are well known to practitioners: Lariam can sometimes cause serious psychiatric disorders, such as nightmares, mental confusion, paranoia, hallucinations or psychoses, effects that sometimes last several months after the end of the taking . The medication is also advised against people already anxious, depressed, or showing psychiatric disorders, as specified in the instructions for use. According to a study conducted in 1991, one in 10,000 people would have severe reactions to treatment.
“I thought I had fallen into madness”
In the spring of 2015, Stromae link up the dates of his long tour, in the wake of the huge success of his album Racine Carrée – sold 2.5 million copies. He plans to perform in Africa, he is naturally prescribed Lariam, to prevent malaria, but the interpreter of “Formidable” ends up canceling everything before being hospitalized urgently in June. What happened ? The Belgian singer touched on this African tour with fatigue, stress and anxiety, as he told Libération last spring.
“I could not sleep anymore, the date of the concert in Rwanda was approaching. The first time I went, I was six. And you know, my father was killed during the genocide, said the singer on at Quotidien. After 150 dates, I was flat. I did not support my anti-malaria treatment, it spun me hallucinations. I thought I had fallen into madness. I was diagnosed with psychic decompensation. I could have done a bullshit, I was no longer myself … ”
The singer, however, managed to finish his tour, notably with a passage in the United States, before giving himself a break, as much to rest as to regain the inspiration. He has since married his companion Coralie, a stylist who took care of his look before launching his own collections staggered under the Mosaert brand. Since then, the star has helped his wife in his ready-to-wear lines, sometimes gives a helping hand to other artists, such as recently for a Vitaa single or Yael Naim’s “Coward” clip, and would floor in the biggest secret on a musical adapted from the Book of the jungle, from Kipling.
