Russell Brand as cancelled the remainder of his Re:Birth tour after his mum, Barbara Brand, was involved in a car accident that has left her with life-threatening injuries. The 71-year-old was reportedly on her way to babysit the comedian's 18-month-old daughter, Mabel, in Russell's chauffeur-driven Audi A8 when it collided with a car driving on the wrong side of the road. Speaking about cancelling his tour dates in two videos posted to Instagram, Russell said: "My mum has been a serious road accident and has sustained …numerous life-threatening injuries so I won't be able to do the rest of my Re:Birth tour. If you have tickets they'll be refunded or possibly rescheduled but I can't really imagine that, I can't really imagine performing at the moment because I feel too sad and connected to this."
Russell opened up about his mum's accident
Barbara has had a difficult time after being diagnosed with cancer back in 2017, which Russell addressed in the video, continuing: "I'm sad for my mum because she's vulnerable, she only finished chemotherapy a month ago and for her to be in this situation already is very difficult." He went on to thank the NHS for their amazing work, and thanked his fans and supporters for their thoughts, well-wishes and prayers.
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Essex Police have confirmed that they have arrested a man in his 40s in connection with the crash, on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. In a statement regarding the accident, a police spokesperson told The Sun: "The Audi driver and passenger, a man in his 40s and woman in her 70s, were taken to hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. The occupant of the Astra had left the scene. Inquiries are ongoing to locate them."
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