The GRAMMY-winning singer revealed that she recently discovered a potentially fatal health issue.
Toni Braxton is feeling lucky to be alive! On Tuesday, the 55-year-old GRAMMY-winning musician spoke about a recent health scare on Today With Hoda and Jenna.
The Braxton Family Values star, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2008, revealed that she dismissed chest pains that she was suffering following the 2022 death of her sister, Traci Braxton, thinking it was simply a bout of sadness.
"I had some pain in my chest," Braxton told co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. "But I was having this pain in my chest and I thought it was because I was so sad, we had just lost one of my sisters."
Braxton revealed that she kept postponing an appointment, until finally her doctor made it for her. After she went in to have a test done, she shared that she got some concerning news.
"Shortly after that, I was told that I would have had a massive heart attack," she recalled. "And I wouldn't have survived."
Braxton said the doctors informed her that the issue was affecting the main artery in her heart, which would have resulted in a widowmaker heart attack.
The "Just Be a Man About It" singer said she is lucky to be alive.
"Even sometimes when I talk about it, I get a little emotional about it," she said while getting choked up. "Because I feel so fortunate and so blessed. And I was not going to go to that appointment. You put things off, 'I'll do it tomorrow. Everything's OK. I'm sure I'm fine.'"
Braxton said that her lupus nephritis can affect various organs of the body at any time. The "Unbreak My Heart" singer revealed that because of the testing she got, she learned that her kidneys were having trouble.
"Having SLE, so it can attack any organ in my body," she revealed. "Now it's starting to affect my kidneys."
"I'm here to talk about it," she added, "'cause had I not did that appointment, I would not be here today talking to you guys. So I want to educate people about that."
Braxton said that she's been living with the chronic illness for over a decade, and while some days can be bad, she manages to get through them.
"Some days I do get sad," she said. "I'm not gonna lie ... some days I'm sad, but there are good and bad days. And I always try to think of the glass half full ... always a silver lining."
And having support really helps too.
"Family, good friends, help," she said of the things that get her over the bad days. "My kids, being a mom. I love being a mom."
While Braxton admitted that she "can still sing," performing looks very different for her now.
"I know I'll never be able to do shows seven days a week again, five to seven days," she said. "I love performing, that's my favorite thing to do, but I can do one-offs. I can do shows here and there."
But lupus isn't slowing Braxton down completely. Kotb and Hager asked about a recent Instagram post, in which the "Hurt You" singer looking especially sexy.
"I was feeling good about myself," Braxton said about the pic posted over the weekend. "Surviving lupus and I wanted people to know that just because you have lupus or lupus nephritis or your kidneys are not doing good, you can still be cute, you can take a cute picture and feel OK."
She added, "I feel confident, I feel proud of myself. I used to beat myself up when I was young saying, 'I shouldn't have done that when I was young.' No, I had to do that when I was younger to get where I am today."
Braxton promised that new music is on the way, and that she is going to continue to advocate for people who are battling chronic illnesses.
"A lot happening, I want to let people know that just because I have lupus and I can't do the things that I used to do, there are so many new things that I'm discovering I can do," she said.
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