Serene Branson didn’t suffer an on-air stroke on Grammy night, as some commentators have suggested after she severely garbled her words. Instead, she suffered what’s called “complex migraine,” the New York Daily News reported. She reportedly told Erica Hill on CBS’s The Early Show:
I knew something wasn’t right as soon as I opened my mouth…I hadn’t been feeling well a little bit before the live shot. I had a headache, my vision was very blurry. I knew something wasn’t right, but I just thought I was tired. So when I opened my mouth, I thought, ‘This is more than just being tired. Something is terribly wrong.’ I wanted to say, ‘Lady Antebellum swept the Grammys.’ And I could think of the words, but I could not get them coming out properly.”
As the Los Angeles Times noted, Branson explained she felt “wobbly” and both “her cheeks and hands had gone numb” even after the camera cut away. Branson said she is now on medication and feels better.
See the interview here.