In 20 January 2020, she collapsed in New York City after suffering a brain haemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery. Doctors removed half of her skull at Mount Sinai West hospital in Manhattan, and she was unconscious for 17 days; it was uncertain how much of her brain would recover. She has recovered with the help of music-based occupational therapy. On 20 January 2021 the first interview with Burton-Hill, who had learned to speak again, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's "Woman's Hour".