Pete Doherty put on a brave face as he was spotted in Toulouse for the first time since revealing he is at risk of having his toes amputated.
The 45-year-old lead singer of The Libertines was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year. He recently shared that doctors had cautioned him about the risk of losing his fingers or toes due to the chronic condition.
Despite the news, Pete was seen on Wednesday, just before his performance with The Libertines at Le Bikini in France. He has been performing sitting down during the last five shows of their European tour.
Even facing health challenges, the British musician maintained a positive attitude and was captured smiling as he prepared to take the stage.
He sported a plain black suit over a white undershirt and hid his long grey hair underneath a tweed flat cap.
While the Babyshambles star puffed away on a cigarette as he relaxed in the sunshine, ahead of his next gig.
Pete Doherty put on a brave face as he was spotted for the first time since he revealed he is at risk of having his toes amputated
The Libertines singer, 45, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year and revealed this week that doctors had warned him the chronic disease could see him lose his digits (pictured in 2022)
Following the news, Pete was spotted on Wednesday just hours before taking to the stage for his latest performance with The Libertines at Le Bikini in France
His sighting comes just hours after he revealed the warning that doctors had given him amid his fight with Type 2 diabetes.
In a video obtained by The Sun at his gig in Munich, Germany, Pete provided his fans with a health update.
He said: ‘I saw the doctor today and he said you need to stay off your feet as much as you can otherwise you’ll lose your toes.’
Those with type 2 diabetes are at higher risk for many related health problems, including foot or leg amputation.
Last spring, Pete confirmed his diagnosis with the chronic disease, saying: ‘I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. And at the moment, I’m lacking the discipline to tackle cholesterol.’
Pete, who had a highly publicised battle with drugs, has given up the ‘main poisons’ to improve his health after his doctor issued a stark warning.
Speaking to The Guardian’s Saturday Magazine, he said: ‘I gave up the main poisons and my health improved.
‘Then you get told alcohol and cheese and sugar are just as bad and you were healthier when you were on heroin.’
The English musician, who has performed from a chair on the last five dates of his European tour, flashed a smile as he kept in good spirits despite his health woes
He sported a plain black suit over a white undershirt and hid his long grey hair underneath a tweed flat cap
While the Babyshambles star puffed away on a cigarette as he relaxed in the sunshine, ahead of his next gig
He then went on to call himself ‘a bit of a glutton’, admitting: ‘It’s not a joke. I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. And at the moment I’m lacking the discipline to tackle cholesterol.’
But it seems Pete has worked on his lack of discipline after receiving some harsh words from his doctor.
The star previously told the Evening Standard that his doctor had told him he had to change his diet immediately.
He told the publication: ‘I have seen a liver doctor who says I need to change my diet – too much cheese, too much milk.
‘But the cheese is so good, that’s part of the reason I stay here… It’s a cholesterol and diabetes thing now, but there are tablets, it makes a big difference.’
The rocker has previously admitted that his larger figure is the result of tucking in to his guilty pleasure.
In 2021, Pete said he had ditched drugs and was instead indulging on cheese on toast and enjoying long lie ins after staying up for six days straight during his wildest years.
He told The Sun about his new lifestyle: ‘I like Comté [a type of French cheese], Comté on toast. My guilty pleasure is sleeping.
In a video obtained by The Sun at his gig in Munich, Germany , Pete provided his fans with a health update (pictured performing in Berlin earlier this month)
‘For years and years, I would stay up for five or six days and then I would sleep for 24 hours, so now I love sleep. At the moment I’m quite clean. I stopped taking heroin and ketamine.’
He added: ‘I like experimenting, making cocktails with champagne, a bit of rum, orange juice, I’m coming across like a bit of an alcoholic, but I’m not — I like a nice glass of water.’
And Pete’s new look is a far cry from his former self where, in 2021, he was spotted munching on a wedge of cheese as he went for a stroll.
Pete relocated to France with his wife Katia de Vidas and his little girl Billie-May several years ago and it seemed he was enjoying the change of pace.
He was spotted walking his dog, sporting a grey mop of hair and a fuller physique and clutching a wedge of cheese and enjoying it as a snack.
Pete previously told documentary-maker Louis Theroux he was ‘a very sick man’ in his Louis Theroux Interviews series.
Due to his former lifestyle, the musician admitted he doesn’t see himself living long and said that he thinks ‘death is lurking’.
He has been off hard drugs for three years, but said he still drinks and was seen swigging rum and chain smoking in the Theroux interview.
Pete relocated to France with his wife Katia de Vidas and his little girl Billie-May several years ago and it seemed he was enjoying the change of pace (seen with wife and daughter in 2023)
Pete, who had a highly publicised battle with drugs, has given up the ‘main poisons’ to improve his health after his doctor issued a stark warning (pictured in 2008)
Pete previously told documentary-maker Louis Theroux he was ‘a very sick man’ and that due to his former lifestyle, he doesn’t see himself living long and thinks ‘death is lurking’ (pictured in Louis Theroux Interviews)
As well as hitting screens with the legendary documentary maker, he is also the subject of a film focused around his demons, which hit cinemas last year.
Peter Doherty: Stranger In My Own Skin shows the extent of his horrific drug addiction, his pained performances at the height of his illness and also contains film of him with his friend and lover Amy Winehouse.
The documentary was shot by his wife Katia over a decade, and in upsetting scenes he is seen smoking drugs and writhing in the aftermath.
He is also shown tying a tourniquet around his arm just before injecting heroin, before scenes shoot to him shouting at a crowd of adoring fans: ‘On the one hand, thank you, on the other hand… f**k you’.
Speaking in the film, he says: ‘Hard drugs entered my life and slowly, slowly, and then very quickly, took control.’
He took heroin for the first time in 2002 when he was just 23, yet the addiction didn’t fully take hold until he found himself sweating and sick after a journey to Japan.
He has been arrested numerous times for drug offences, previously pleading guilty to possession of cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine.
In 2012, he was thrown out of a luxury rehab clinic in Thailand after claims he was a bad influence on other patients and did not try hard enough to kick his heroin habit.
Pete’s bad boy rock and roll image earned him an army of fans including supermodel Kate Moss, who he dated from 2005 to 2007 (pictured together in 2005)
Kate lost commercial deals while they were together after she was pictured alongside a suspicious white substance in his studio and their turbulent relationship came to an end in 2007, months after Pete revealed he’d proposed to her (pictured together in 2007)
Pete’s bad boy rock and roll image earned him an army of fans including supermodel Kate Moss, who hung off his arm as they made their way from party to party.
The pair dated from 2005 to 2007, with Kate losing commercial deals while they were together after she was pictured alongside a suspicious white substance in his studio.
Their turbulent relationship eventually came to an end in 2007, months after Pete revealed he’d proposed to her.
While his most famous relationship was with Kate, he also had a fling with friend Amy Winehouse and a reported tryst with late Big Brother star Nikki Grahame.
As well his 21-month-old daughter Billie-May with wife Katia, Pete is also father to son Astile, 21, from his relationship with Lisa Moorish and shares daughter Aisling, 13, with model Lindi Hingston.
