Aretha Franklin gravely ill, surrounded by family

aretha franklin

Aretha Franklin is reported to be gravely ill and surrounded by friends and family in her Detroit, Michigan home.

A report from Channel 4 Detroit shared that the soul singer is ill, however, her family is not sharing details at this time.

Channel 4's Evrod Cassimy, a friend of Franklin's had the chance to speak with her.

Another longtime friend of the Queen of Soul told TMZ last week that her inner circle was told that "she could go any time."

Rumors that Franklin has battled cancer have been around for years and was an issue she refused to address, even going so far as telling JET Magazine, “I am not going to even deal with that. I don’t have to talk about my health with anybody other than my doctors.”

No matter what was going on, it never slowed the legendary singer down. She talked about retirement and no longer touring with the addendum that she would still perform in local clubs saying, “I’m interested in doing a small nightclub downtown, and … have been talking about this for a couple of years now. In my retirement plan, I’d like to have a small club here in Detroit… From time to time I would sing.”

Her doctors had other ideas and pulled her from touring this past March, including a scheduled headline performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Check out her performance this past November at Elton John's AIDS Gala.

We are sending our love and prayers to Aretha Franklin and her family and will give updates as we get them.

The Celebrity Cafe has reached out to Aretha Franklin's representative for comment.

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