Tamar Braxton Had Rib Removed After ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Health Scare, Competition Made Surgery Necessary
Tamar Braxton’s exit from Dancing with the Stars was one of the most dramatic moments of Season 21 of the show, but viewers had no idea just how serious her health scare really was. A few weeks after leaving the dance competition, Tamar had to have one of her ribs removed.
According to ABC News, Tamar Braxton opened up about her health struggles when she returned to her talk show, The Real, this week. As Dancing with the Stars viewers know, Tamar’s troubles began early last month when she fell ill and thought that she was suffering from pneumonia. During dress rehearsal for Week 9 of the Dancing with the Stars, she got so sick that she had to be rushed to the emergency room.
Tamar Braxton was unable to make it back to the DWTS ballroom to perform her first dance of the night, so the judges scored her dress rehearsal footage. She managed to make it back in time for her second dance with fellow celebrity competitor Nick Carter, and she escaped elimination. However, she had to pull out of the competition two days later after doctors found blood clots in her lungs. Tamar informed her fans that she is suffering from pulmonary embolisms.
“I went back to the hospital (after the doctors didn’t want me to leave in the first place) only to find out that I don’t have pneumonia, but something way more serious,” Tamar Braxton wrote in a November 11 Instagram post.
According to People, Tamar updated her fans on her health by calling her The Real co-hosts during the show on November 19. She revealed that she was out of the hospital, and she said that she felt “blessed” to be home because some people who suffer from multiple pulmonary embolisms don’t get to leave the hospital.
Unfortunately for Tamar, her diagnosis would take another scary turn a few weeks later when she was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. Madame Noire reports that Tamar returned to the hospital early this month, and she shared an Instagram video letting her fans know that she was going to return to The Real as soon as possible. For some reason, the Vince & Tamar star decided to delete the Instagram video shortly after she posted it.
According to ABC News, the condition that Tamar Braxton was diagnosed with “is often caused when athletes overuse their upper extremities developing a muscle that pulls up and compresses the subclavian vein.” As People reports, Tamar invited her cardiologist and vascular surgeon to explain what thoracic outlet syndrome is on The Real, and they said that the very fit singer was suffering from the condition “because she is essentially an athlete.” Tamar Braxton pointed out that she was dancing up to six hours a day while rehearsing for Dancing with the Stars, and this likely made the preexisting condition worse.
“She was probably born with a predisposition, you know, just the way the muscles are, but certainly the more activity that you did I think would have put you at an increased risk for developing the problem,” Dr. Allan Tulloch said.
To stop the vein compression that was causing Tamar Braxton’s blood clots, she had to have a rib removed. Tamar revealed that she had never had surgery before, and she was so scared that she decided to hire a spiritual counselor to reassure her that everything would be all right. Her surgery was over two hours long, and she’s still struggling to recover.
“I didn’t really know I was sick, but you know, I’m definitely on the mend. Some days are really tough,” Braxton admitted.
There’s a chance that Tamar Braxton’s thoracic outlet syndrome could affect both sides of her body, so don’t expect to see her on Dancing with the Stars: All Stars – if she gets too physical again, she may end up needing to have another rib removed.
Tamar Braxton’s reality series, Vince & Tamar, airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET on We tv, and it looks like her health woes will be a big focus of this season of the show. Are you shocked that she had to have a rib removed?
[Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images for MegaFest]
