Shane MacGowan's wife Victoria Mary Clarke has announced that her husband has been released from St Vincents hospital and will be returning home, after spending five months hospitalized with a blood infection.

Taking to Twitter/X, Victoria shared a picture of the iconic Irish songwriter and Pogues frontman in a hat and scarf, preparing to head home. "Shane got out of the hospital!" Victoria wrote in the post's caption.

She continued: “We are deeply and eternally grateful to all of the doctors and nurses and staff at St Vincent’s it’s the best! And special thanks to Tom Creagh and Brian Corscadden for your help.”

Shane got out of the hospital! We are deeply and eternally grateful to all of the doctors and nurses and staff at St Vincent’s it’s the best ! And special thanks to Tom Creagh and Brian Corscadden for your help ⁦@ShaneMacGowan⁩ ⁦@poguesofficial⁩ pic.twitter.com/ciEhB1NcRU

— @victoriamary (@Victoriamary) November 22, 2023

In July of this year, it emerged that MacGowan has been recovering in hospital since June, after being admitted to intensive care for an unspecified health issue. The announcement of the singer's hospital discharge comes days after Clarke’s previous update in which she shared that her hopes that he will be home by Christmas. “Shane is feeling much better today! I am so grateful to everyone who is willing him to get home for the Christmas!,” she wrote on November 17.

In October, Victoria had previously expressed how desperate she was to get Shane back home, writing: "Feeling really really grateful that ⁦Shane is looking so bright today!

In the past few weeks, Bono and The Edge, Moya Brennan, Damien Dempsey, Daniel O’Donnell, Imelda May, Mundy and Bobby Gillespie have all popped in to see the legendary artist. Clarke disclosed that MacGowan’s bandmates in The Pogues, including Spider Stacy and Terry Woods, had visited him in the hospital recently.

“He probably has had more visitors since he’s been in hospital than he would have at home,” Victoria recently mused.

MacGowan was diagnosed with viral encephalitis last year, an uncommon condition that causes brain inflammation. It can be life-threatening and requires urgent treatment, symptoms including loss of movement and difficulty speaking. He was previously hospitalised in early December 2022 for treatment, but was released home in time for his birthday on Christmas Day and for New Year celebrations. He shared a message to his fans on December 3rd, 2022, saying: “Hi friends, I’m sitting here suffering from encephalitis.”

Irish journalist Victoria Mary Clarke and MacGowan married in 2018 at Copenhagen City Hall in Denmark after more than 32 years together.

Victoria Mary Clarke, Shane MacGowan, Johnny Depp and President Michael D. Higgins celebrating a poet of modern music and one of the great international songwriters Shane MacGowan at the National Concert Hall.

In a previous post on Instagram, Clarke also shared a photo of her sharing a kiss with her husband while in the hospital, along with a candid reflection on her fears of losing her husband, amidst Shane's recent health concerns.

“Love is the most beautiful and powerful thing that we can experience as humans but love can also feel painful, especially if you are afraid of losing a person or anything else that you love,” she wrote. “The really really big challenge that we all face is to go beyond what our minds think are the limits of love and what love really is..."