Aretha Franklin is ‘gravely ill’ according to report

LEGENDARY singer Aretha Franklin is “gravely ill”, a report claims.

According to Showbiz 411, “Aretha is surrounded by family and people close to her” in Detroit and “the family is asking for prayers and privacy”.

NBC reporter Harry Hairston also tweeted that Franklin was “not doing well”, according to a close friend.

Spoke with close friend of Aretha Franklin and family. Iconic singer not doing well.

— Harry Hairston (@harryhairston) August 13, 2018

Franklin, 76, hasn’t performed in public since November last year and cancelled two concerts scheduled for April and March this year.

“Aretha Franklin has been ordered by her doctor to stay off the road and rest completely for at least the next two months,” her management said in a statement in March.

Showbiz 411 claims the Queen of Soul is battling cancer after being diagnosed in 2010.

But Franklin has previously denied that she has cancer and told Access Hollywood in 2011, “I don’t know where ‘pancreatic cancer’ came from”.

“I was sitting there reading the newspaper and it was saying someone in my family said that. No one in my family ever said that to anybody.”

The 18-time Grammy winner did confirm that she underwent surgery for a health scare in 2010 but wouldn’t reveal what it was.

“He (the doctor) said, ‘The surgery that you just had is going to add 15 to 20 more years to your life’,” Franklin told Access Hollywood.