Bassist discusses 2013 show and her struggle with diabetes on the road
Andrew Trendell

12:14 24th July 2014

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Haim bassist Este has spoken out about her struggle with diabetes and her 'life-threatening' episode when she performed at Glastonbury in 2013. 

 The three sisters were forced to halt their set on the Pyramid Stage in 2013 when Este was struck down by diabetes - forcing her to perform sat down and weak for the remainder their show. The band spoke of the incident at this year's festival, when introducing their cover of 'XO' by Beyonce, bassist and queen of the bass face Este Haim said: "The last time we were here, I was on stage saying 'this is the best moment of my life', when suddenly I nearly had a seizure because I'm diabetic."

Now, in a new interview with BBC Newsbeat, Este has opened up about her struggle with diabetes - and how she 'almost died' on stage.

"I think we've had a lot of trials and tribulations on the road, there have been a couple of little mishaps," she said. "Glastonbury being one of them when I almost died.

"I was so out of it that I just didn't remember that I hadn't eaten. By the sixth song, I could feel my blood sugar levels plummeting really really fast. My eyes were kind of fluttering in the back of my head."

She continued: "My manager, he's the best manager in the world, he had to put chocolate on his finger and stick it in my mouth. [He had to] put it on the side of my cheek and rub it for a good two minutes before I could get back on stage.  I did the rest of the set sitting down like BB King."

Watch Haim performing at Glastonbury 2013 below

Speaking about the difficulties of managing diabetes while being a touring musician, she continued: "It's due to the fact that your hours are always so different and food is never really constant. When you are trying to figure out, 'OK, if I am eating this food, how much insulin do I have to take?'

"There is a lot of different factors that go along to treating diabetes, it's exercise, it's diet and insulin.  Sometimes I can't exercise because I've spent the last 12 hours on flights or I'm exhausted or I don't want to exercise."

She added: "I think it's something that I have and I have to be responsible for it and own up to it and talk about it."

Below: Photos Haim proving themselves masters of bass face at Glastonbury 2014

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Photo: WENN