Grammy winner Toni Braxton has been on the road for her “As Long As I Live” tour over the past three months, but she’s admitted that with lupus it wasn’t an easy trek.
The singer opened up about it on “Steve” alongside her famous siblings Monday, April 8, when host Steve Harvey asked her about a few concert dates being shifted around earlier this year.
” I had pleurisy, I had little flares … that’s inflammation of my lungs, and as a singer, you need the lungs,” Braxton explains. “So I got a cold from being out on the road, and it turned into that. But I got through it, and everyone was great and gracious and God had me.”
While Braxton said “today’s a good day” and that she’s ” better every day,” she admitted that almost every day out of the year can be tough with her autoimmune disease.
“365, maybe 300,” she says in response to Harvey’s question about how often she’s had bouts with her health.
“Although to be fair, there are moments I wake up and say, ‘Wait a minute, this isn’t lupus, this [is] 50!” she admits to the audience erupting in laughter.
Braxton’s North American tour began on Jan. 19 in Columbia, South Carolina, and wrapped up in Los Angeles March 3.
She thanked fans for their support in an Instagram video posted March 15 after they helped her belt out her hit songs “on those nights that were tough.”
In response to Braxton’s new revelations, her fans have been giving her acclaim.
“So happy to hear you are feeling better Ms Toni. God has his hands on you…stay blessed our love is with you always.”
“MY GIRL!!!!”
“I feel you @tonibraxton people don’t understand that you feel sick,pain, exhaustion etc…. daily. Your blessed to have a few good days a month. 💜Prayingformylupiewarriors.”
“Congratulations to Toni Braxton 👏👏👏”
Braxton revealed her lupus diagnosis in 2010 during the 8th Annual Lupus L.A. Bag Ladies Luncheon.
“Today I’m going to talk about it because I’m a survivor and I’m here, and I don’t want to lose hope,” she said at the time according to Billboard magazine. “Take a look — this is what lupus looks like.”
