Toni Braxton divulges heartbreaking reality of being 'sick' as a celebrity

Toni Braxton finally opened up about the heartbreaking reason she kept he diagnosis with lupus a secret from public.

Speaking on the latest episode of the SHE MD podcast, the 56-year-old singer revealed she was “ashamed” to go public with her condition as a performer.

According to Mayo Clinic, Lupus refers to an autoimmune condition when your body’s immune system begins attacking its own tissues and organs.

Braxton shared: “People get scared around sick celebrities. And I couldn’t get insured. … You would not get work, because the second I [was] told I had it, I didn’t get work at first.

“No one wanted to put me on a stage. ‘Well, suppose she collapsed on stage, and the insurance, how are we going to do that?’ And so I couldn’t, at first I did not [work],” explained the Spanish Guitar singer.

These fears prompted the pop star to prevent her from getting an official diagnosis for lupus for 10 years despite her symptoms – which included elevated blood pressure and pain throughout [her] body.

Toni noted she kept reaching out to people about her deteriorating health, however, no one paid a heed to it as “lupus doesn’t have a look to it”.

“No one could figure it out,” she said, adding that she “felt like a hypochondriac.”

It also affected her mental health, worsening her chronic anxiety.

At the end, the Breathe Again singer vocally advocated to dissociate shame from the disease, saying: “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing.”