JoJo Siwa is back on her feet after being hospitalized on Friday for “excruciating pain” in her stomach.
Over the holiday weekend, the “Karma” singer was set to take the stage at the Minnesota Mall of America for a special Black Friday event. But hours before she was due to perform, Siwa posted a photo of herself being wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher. The following day, she shared a video reassuring fans that she is doing much better.
“So long story short, every time that I’ve been dancing for the last couple of days or even just walking, like anything, my stomach would just really, really hurt,” Siwa, 22, began explaining in her Saturday, November 29 TikTok video. “And I don’t know why, but it just kind of passed, and so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s that time of the month, maybe it’s a cramp, I don’t know.'”
But by Friday morning, the pain not only returned but became “really bad” hours before her scheduled performance. Unsure what was causing the pain, Siwa assumed a nap would help her sleep off the feeling.
jojosiwa/Instagram
“I laid down, I closed my eyes, and I was like, ‘I can’t breathe,'” she recalled, adding that she next tried getting into the bathtub to see if it would “calm” down her muscles. But the situation only worsened.
“That set it off 100 times worse,” Siwa shared. “I was in [the bathtub] for maybe four minutes, and all of a sudden I was like, I have to get out immediately ’cause I knew I was gonna black out and I felt like I was gonna throw up.”
Siwa called her mom, dance instructor Jessalynn Siwa, for help and together they decided to dial 9-1-1. The singer said the medics who arrived could not initially diagnose her because her vitals were “normal,” so they transported her to the hospital with a warning that wait times were close to 12 hours. In the end, Siwa said she was in and out in under three hours. After giving her pain medication and an ultrasound, a doctor explained that “one of [her] ovaries had a cyst on it that burst and was bleeding into [her] stomach.”
Siwa said she was told, “‘That’s what was causing the excruciating pain — anytime that the blood in your stomach moves, that’s the bleeding in the stomach. It’s like brutal pain, and long story short, [it] should revolve itself. It should stop on its own.'”
JoJo Siwa/Tiktok
The singer was ultimately discharged in time to complete her scheduled Mall of America performance — with some help from the pain meds she was prescribed — and is now back to her usual routine.
“Today, we’re gonna go to work, and we’re gonna dance again,” Siwa told her followers. “I’m afraid how this dance is gonna affect me ’cause I’m gonna be dancing, but it’s only gonna be an hour. We’re going to do it. We’re going to keep it pushing. Basically, if I vomit or if I have that excruciating pain burst again, I got to go immediately back in. But we should be okay.”
The Dance Moms alum went on to thank fans for their kind words and well wishes, adding, “I’m doing all right. I’m not 100 percent, it’ll take about a week or two for me to be 100 percent— as long as nothing gets more complicated.”
Siwa’s story was met with more warm remarks from fans, who celebrated the singer’s decision to perform despite being in pain.
“And you were only 10 minutes late!?” one fan wrote. “We would’ve never known.. so sorry! Minnesota was thankful for you! Me and my daughter won’t ever forget it!”
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Another added, “I’m so glad you’re ok!! You crushed it at the mall!! Thank you for being there for us but please take care of you!! Your own health and happiness are the most important.”
Watch Siwa share her full hospitalization story above.