The Pretty Reckless vocalist Taylor Momsen has had yet another run-in with wildlife while on tour. While her band was opening for AC/DC in May 2024, she was bitten by a bat on stage. She got her rabies shots, and things were quiet for a while. Most recently, however, Momsen’s brush with a brown recluse spider in Mexico almost cost her a leg.
During an April 2026 tour stop in Mexico City with AC/DC, a venomous brown recluse bit Momsen on her right leg before the show. She still got on stage after receiving medical attention. Momsen later posted about the experience on Instagram.
“So it wouldn’t be an AC/DC tour if I didn’t get bit…” she wrote, referencing the bat incident. “This time a massive spider decided to take a chunk out of me and its venom did a number on my system so had to have the wonderful doctors in Mexico come and deliver quite the shot before the show last night… add it to the list! Spider woman? Batgirl? WTF.”
Taylor Momsen Shares Details of Scary Spider Bite That Almost Took Her Leg
Taylor Momsen performed that night and played the incident down on social media. But in an interview with Rick Beato on his YouTube channel, Momsen revealed the true nature of the spider bite. Apparently, doctors initially misdiagnosed the injury, treating it as an allergic reaction to the bite. In reality, she’d been hit with brown recluse venom, which progressively gets nastier the longer it’s untreated.
“I ended up, the last night of the tour in Mexico City, in the hospital, hooked up to IVs with the strongest antibiotics you can possibly get getting pumped through my system, with the hospital telling me I cannot leave and they had to admit me for 5 days, or I was going to lose my leg,” she said in the October 2026 interview.
“To which I turned to the doctor and I said, Doc, I got a show in a few hours, so I need a plan B,” Momsen continued. “And he goes, ‘You’re not gonna make that show.’ And I said, ‘Doc, how do I make this clear to you? I’m leaving this hospital, and I would really like to keep my leg, so I need a plan B.’”
She added, “[I] don’t recommend that … That spider was just actively trying to kill me.”
Luckily, Taylor Momsen didn’t have to lose her leg. But clearly, it was a close call. Now if only she could find a way to stop attracting wildlife to her, things might start looking up.
Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
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