Busted star James Bourne appears to have deleted his Instagram account, after he shared with followers that he needs to undergo a ‘major surgery’.
The 42-year-old shared the update in April, in which he said the procedure would ‘extend his life’.
Since then, the musician has vanished from the social media platform. When fans try to navigate to his profile, they are met with the words: ‘Sorry this page isn’t available.
‘The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.’
This message usually pops up when Instagram has removed an account or the account holder has deleted their page.
Metro contacted Bourne’s representative, who had no comment on the disappearance of his social media account.
It comes after Bourne issued a health update following months of radio silence, which had concerned fans.
Taking to his Instagram Story he wrote: ‘I have a plan in place to have a major surgery that should extend my life and hopefully make me well enough to come back to what I love the most, which is touring and making music.
‘It really sucks to be out of the game. But there is hope!’
He did not give any additional information on the state of his health or details of the surgery, but it came after Bourne suddenly dropped out of the Essex band’s 2025 tour, just 24 hours before their first gig.
In his first statement on his health at the time, he wrote in part: ‘I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows.
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‘There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on the medical stuff for now.
‘I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line. It’s still going to be an amazing show and I will miss being there! See you all as soon as possible.’
The other two members of Busted, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson, were forced to go on tour without him, which Willis has said he does not want to repeat. Bourne’s younger brother Chris stepped in to replace him.
Declaring that ‘health is wealth’, Willis told the crowd during their first show: ‘Okay, you may have noticed our best friend is not here tonight. James Bourne is really f***ing sick, and we love him, and we miss him.’
He added that it was ‘really weird’ to be playing their ‘first show ever’ without him, adding: ‘But we’re going to do the best we can.’
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