Taylor Swift has said that she is "overwhelmed by grief" after a 23-year-old fan tragically passed away attending her show in Brazil.
On Friday (November 17) night, a fan named Ana Clara Benevides sadly died ahead of the 33-year-old 'Anti Hero' musician's concert in Rio de Janeiro.
According to the Brazilian newspaper Fohla De Sao Paolo, the concertgoer fainted after experiencing heat exhaustion while at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos stadium.
Her death was confirmed by her cousin, Estela Benevides, who revealed to the publication that Ana suffered a cardiac arrest before being rushed to the Salgado Filho Municipal Hospital, where she ultimately died of cardiorespiratory arrest.
BBC News reports that Benevides died before the 'Love Story' songstress took to the stage when the show began at around 7:30PM local time.
Swift has since responded to Ana's death on Instagram, issuing a heartbreaking statement that read: "I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. I can’t believe that I’m writing these words, but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show."
"There’s very little information I have, other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young," she continued, before stating that she would not be talking about the death on stage that evening.
"I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends," the 'You Belong With Me' star said, adding that this was the "last thing I thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil."
Read Swift's statement below:
Friday night's show in Rio de Janeiro was the first of three Eras Tour performances in Brazil, with the next shows occurring on Saturday (November 18) and Sunday (November 19).
The 'Love Story' singer's concert in Brazil coincided with the dangerous heat wave, with Folha reporting the heat index - or apparent temperature - inside the packed stadium reached 60C.
Several audience members complained on social media that they were banned from bringing water bottles inside the stadium even though there was scorching warmth. However, this claim has not been confirmed as of this writing.
Footage shared online showed the Grammy-winning musician herself pausing the show multiple times to ask organizers to distribute bottles of water among audience members. At one point, while singing her hit 'All Too Well', Swift was seen throwing a water bottle into the crowd, BBC News reports.
At one point, the 'Anti-Hero' singer said: "Sorry it’s just very hot so when somebody says they need water and it's this hot, they really need it."
Swifties around the world are now mourning the loss of Ana on social media, with many sending their condolences to the young woman's family and friends.
The late fan's friend took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share a sweet video of her singing a song by Swift. She captioned the clip (translated from Portuguese to English): "Benevides' dream has always been to see Taylor."
"It hurts to know what happened and even more so that it may have been due to the guys' negligence in prohibiting people from bringing water in. Rest in peace Benevida," they added.
Our thoughts are with Ana's family and friends at this devastating time.
