Key Takeaways
- Nivea said faith helped her face chronic myeloid leukemia and that she "instantly believed" she would overcome the disease, which is now in remission.
- After mistaking severe stomach pain for constipation or a knot, her daughter Navy took her to the ER, where doctors found an enlarged spleen and suspected leukemia.
- The diagnosis put her life into perspective and renewed her focus on music following 2019's Mirrors, her first album after a nearly 15-year hiatus.
Nivea has opened up about her leukemia fight, revealing that she leaned on her faith to get through it.
In July, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter revealed that she had chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), which is now in remission. The rare form of cancer, which is 70 percent survivable, develops slowly in the bone marrow and can be detected through blood tests, per American Cancer Society.
Nivea, who shares a son with Lil Wayne and three children with ex-husband The-Dream, was a guest on the October 7 episode of The Tamron Hall Show and revisited her diagnosis.
Around the five-minute mark of the video above, Nivea said that she mistook early symptoms for constipation or having a stomach knot. "I went and got a massage and it didn't help. I could barely get off the table after the massage. I'm like, 'Why do I still feel the knot and why is it hurting more?'" she explained.
The singer was transported by her daughter, Navy, to the emergency room, where doctors noticed that the singer had an enlarged spleen and led them to promptly suspect leukemia. She was then recommended to go to Emory Healthcare and called the diagnosis an "out-of-body experience."
"I went into acceptance," she continued. "I've been through so many things and this felt like another thing that I had to overcome and another hurdle…I instantly believed I would get through."
During the episode of Cadillac Chronicles, Nivea said that the diagnosis allowed her to put her life into "perspective" and redirect her focus back on music. The singer has released four albums; her latest, Mirrors, was released in 2019 after a near-15-year hiatus.
