The former 'DWTS' contestant had emergency throat surgery earlier this month.
Jeannie Mai is making a surprise appearance on her talk show! The 41-year-old co-host of The Real virtually stops by the show on Thursday, following an emergency throat surgery that made her exit Dancing With the Stars, on which she'd been competing, early.
When Jeannie pops up on the screen, her co-hosts are delighted, with Adrienne Houghton even breaking down in tears.
"I actually, really might cry. I'm legit crying over here," Adrienne says. "What have you been doing during your recovery time? We miss you so much."
Communicating through notecards as she's still unable to speak, Jeannie tells Adrienne and the other women -- Loni Love, Garcelle Beauvais and guest co-host Ryan Michelle Bathe -- how she's been staying entertained amid her recovery.
"Ladies, miss y'all so much," Jeannie's notecard reads. "Adrienne, your 'Feels Like Home' concert revived me. Loni, I've read your damn book like 10 times. Garcelle, I've been loving all your glam on the gram. Basically, I miss you all like crazy. And I'm so thankful to have The Real to keep me company every day."
Later in her appearance, Jeannie shares that she'll be able to return to the show next week.
"I'm allowed to return to work next week and can't wait!! Been resting my voice and body, so I am ready!" the notecard reads. "Hold it down for me #RealFam cuz your Asian sensation is bout to be back."
After Jeannie goes through her many notecards, Loni decides to tease her co-host a bit.
"You are even long-winded in cards, Jeannie," Loni quips.
DWTS announced on Nov. 2 that Jeannie would be leaving the competition early due to an emergency health concern.
"I am absolutely devastated that my journey on Dancing With the Stars has to end this way," she said from her hospital bed at the time. "I found out that I have a throat abscess where my tonsils and throat had gotten so infected, it started permeating to the rest of the areas behind my neck and ears. I had to get emergency surgery, which is why I'm here now."
Jeezy, Jeannie's fiancé, stopped by The Real following her DWTS exit to give a more detailed account of how she wound up having emergency surgery.
"She began to get sick. She had some problems with her throat and we took her to the doctor and they gave her a shot of steroids and everything was good," he said. "It happened again, and I just started to notice she was having problems breathing."
"She woke up one morning and got up before me and I got up and went behind her, and I saw her, and she couldn’t breathe. I grabbed her immediately, took her to the emergency room... they found something, but they didn't know," he continued. "So we actually went to another doctor... the doctor immediately looked at her and told her, 'You're done with Dancing With The Stars; you're done. This is life-threatening and if you don’t get it fixed right now, you could possibly lose your life.'"
Watch the video below for more on Jeannie.
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