Justin Bieber was supposed to begin his Justice World Tour this week with a pair of shows in Toronto, but those gigs and the rest of the tour are on pause right now while Bieber recovers from an illness. Specifically, he’s suffering from Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, a condition that results in facial paralysis due to the varicella-zoster virus (the same germ that causes chickenpox and shingles) attacking the facial nerve near the inner ear. In a video message to fans on Instagram, Bieber explained — and demonstrated — that half of his face is fully paralyzed right now and he therefore cannot perform as scheduled.

Here’s his full message written out:

I wanted to update you guys on what’s been going on. Obviously, as you can probably see from my face, I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. And it is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear and my facial nerves and has caused my face to have paralysis. As you can see, this eye is not blinking. I can’t smile on this side of my face. This nostril will not move. So there’s full paralysis in this side of my face. So for those who are frustrated with my cancellation of the next shows, I’m just physically obviously not capable of doing them. This is pretty serious, as you can see. I wish this wasn’t the case, but obviously my body’s telling me I gotta slow down. And I hope you guys understand. And I’ll be using this time to just rest and relax and get back to 100% so that I can do what I was born to do. But in the meantime, this ain’t it. I gotta go get my rest on so that I can get my face back to where it’s supposed to be. I love you guys. Thanks for being patient with me. And I’m gonna get better. And I’m doing all these facial exercises to get my face back to normal. and it will go back to normal. It’s just time. We don’t know how much time it’s gonna be, but it’s gonna be OK. And I have hope, and I trust God, and I trust that this is all gonna — it’s all for a reason. And I’m not sure what that is right now, but in the meantime, I’m gonna rest, and I love you guys. Peace.

And here’s the video: