Pink's son battling illness ahead of her NZ tour

Pink's son Jameson has hand, foot and mouth disease on tour.

The popstar is currently in Australia on tour with her husband Carey Hart and their two children; Willow, seven, and Jameson, 20 months, but while she's busy entertaining fans on stage every night, her spouse has been looking after their sick kids, who both have high temperatures, in their hotel room.

Taking to his Instagram account, the 43-year-old former professional freestyle motocross competitor revealed that Jameson is battling the highly contagious virus, which causes mouth ulcers and a rash on the hands and feet, while Willow has a temperature of 102 - meaning she may have started to develop the illness too.

Alongside a photograph of Jameson's nasty rash, Carey wrote: "Wanna know how glamorous tour can be?

"Jameson has hand, foot, and mouth; and willow has a 102 temp. Both kids laid up and mama @pink still has to push through and do shows.

"I had Jameson at breakfast yesterday and this vile woman at the table next to us kept staring at him with a sh***y look on her face. I told her it was bed bugs . #NoRestForTheWicked #LifeInHotels."

However, some of his followers weren't impressed that he had taken Jameson to a public place for breakfast when he has the virus - which is spread via coughs, sneezes and poop - and criticised him for spreading germs around.

Carey hit back: "What's your point? You think I let my kids eat off of other peoples plates?," followed by: "Yeah, I took my kid to breakfast only wearing a diaper."

Meanwhile, this isn't the first time the family have been plagued with illness while on the Beautiful Trauma tour as Pink was forced to cancel her show in Sydney, Australia, earlier this month after she was hospitalised with a gastric virus.

The singer is due to perform at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday before heading to Auckland for six shows.

The regal presence Aretha Franklin exuded in life was captured at her viewing today, with the late Queen of Soul in a gold-plated casket dressed completely in red, including high-heeled pumps, proving, as one person put it, that she was a "diva to the end".

As Franklin's powerful vocals from classic gospel performances were piped through the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer looked as if she was preparing for one more performance. She wore earrings, red lipstick and red nail polish, and her hair was cut short. Her dress - with its ornamental elements and sheer netting fabric - was reminiscent of an outfit she would wear onstage and "something she would have selected for herself," her niece, Sabrina Owens, told The Associated Press.

Mourners poured into the museum to pay their final respects to Franklin, who died on August 16 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. The two-day viewing was part of a week of commemorations for the legend, who will be laid to rest on Friday (Saturday NZT).

The Wright Museum is a cultural landmark in Detroit , where Franklin grew up and spent most of her life. Museum board member Kelly Major Green said the goal was to create a dignified and respectful environment akin to a church, the place where Franklin got her start.

"What we wanted to do is be reflective of the Queen," Ms Green said. "It's beautiful. She's beautiful."

Ms Green said Franklin's attire and pose communicated both power and comfort, as she did in life. The shoes, in particular, show "The Queen of Soul is diva to the end," Ms Green said.

Fans strolled by the casket, some in tears; one woman blew a kiss to Franklin, who was surrounded by massive arrangements of roses of different hues.

Aretha Franklin lies in her casket at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History during a public visitation in Detroit. Source: Associated Press

Tammy Gibson, 49, of Chicago said she arrived about 5.30am. She came alone but made fast friends with others who sang and reminisced.

Growing up, Ms Gibson said she heard Franklin's music "playing all the time" by her parents, who "told me to go to bed - it's an adult party."

Outside the museum, she said: "I know people are sad, but it's just celebrating - people dancing and singing her music." Indeed, a group of women were singing her hit Freeway of Love.

Franklin had been a constant in Ms Gibson's life.

"I saw the gold-plated casket - it dawned on me: She's gone, but her legacy and her music will live on forever."

Ms Owens said she began planning for this week's festivities earlier this year.

"After all she gave to the world, I felt we needed to give her an appropriate send-off that would match her legacy," she said. "She loved the city of Detroit and the city of Detroit loved her."

The roses that surround the casket, Ms Owens said, reflected her love for the flower and her propensity to send arrangements "in grand fashion."

Franklin was dressed in red symbolic of her membership in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The service organisation of predominantly black women planned a private ceremony on Tuesday night local time in the museum in honour of Franklin.

The setting for the viewings could not be more fitting, according to Paula Marie Seniors, an associate professor of Africana studies at Virginia Tech.

"I think it's incredibly significant - she is being honored almost like a queen at one of the most important black museums in the United States," said Ms Seniors.

The Queen of Soul, Ms Seniors said, was "a singer of the universe." Yet she added that Franklin also was "so unapologetically black - she was so proud of being a black woman."

Ms Owens said the museum has held services for many dignitaries, most famously Rosa Parks: "It was important that Aretha take her place next to them and lie in state there."

For all the formality, however, Ms Owens said the viewings are intended to be welcoming and accessible for her legions of fans.

"She respected them - she understood that if it were not for them, she wouldn't be who she is," she said.

Jacinda Ardern says the situation is "deeply distressing" for the family of a seriously ill Kiwi woman stuck in Bali who can't afford medical evacuation.

Abby Hartley of Hamilton found herself in severe pain on the first day of a holiday with her husband Richard on August 1 and she was rushed to a private hospital in Nusa Dua, Denpasar.

Speaking to media today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the issue remains one for insurers and not the Government.

"This is deeply distressing for the family, I can only imagine that kind of situation and I know the MFAT team on the ground are doing what they can.

"Ultimately what we hope is that in these cases insurers really step in and assist families in cases like this where there is insurance involved," Ms Ardern said.

The Hartley family with their wife and mum, Abby. Source: Givealittle

According to a Givealittle page set up by her daughter Sophie, Abby's bowel had twisted, cutting off blood flow to a portion of it, and while emergency surgery went well, she then went into acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Doctors made the decision to put her into an induced coma and began supplying her oxygen through a respirator.

She also developed a severe chest infection leading to one of her lungs collapsing. The family say she has since been moved to a public hospital, but antibiotics are now not working for her.

Her insurance company has declined to pay the hospital bills and the family set up a Givealittle page to help cover these.

"The longer we stay the sicker she is going to get, and the bills just keep increasing. We need to get her home," Richard Hartley has told the NZ Herald.

He had emailed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on August 18 and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters responded saying the Government is unable to help.

"I understand that Abby's situation is a very challenging one," Mr Peters said in his response, quoted by NZ Herald yesterday.

"However I have to confirm that the New Zealand Government is unable to fund the costs of medical care of evacuations for New Zealanders who become ill while overseas."

He recommended they approach their insurers, and the New Zealand embassy in Jakarta for consular assistance.

"I wish Abby well with her recovery, and hope she is well enough to return to New Zealand soon."

Mr Hartley said getting Abby home to New Zealand would cost up to $160,000.

He said the medical bills were at nearly $100,000 and still rising.

The Givealittle page shows $196,000 has been donated.

Let's block ads! (Why?)