Muni Long revealed that over a decade of struggling with lupus caused her to have a double lung transplant amid her early exit from Brandy and Monica’s The Boy Is Mine Tour.
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, whose legal name is Priscilla Renea Hamilton, was a guest on the Tuesday (June 23) episode of Good Morning America, where she discussed the frightening surgery with anchor Robin Roberts. Long, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2014, also revealed that doctors had given her a week to live.
Long opened for Brandy and Monica on select dates of the 2025 tour before dropping out for health reasons. The Revenge artist was replaced by R&B vocalist Mýa.
"I should have never taken that tour," she told Roberts, "but there was so much going on in my life that I had to do it."
During her final show on The Boy Is Mine Tour, Long managed to perform two songs before leaving altogether. By the Thanksgiving holiday, the 37-year-old was in the hospital. "I couldn't even get out of the bed to make my call time for stage," she said.
With Long in a hospital bed, doctors gave the singer two options: either being in hospice or undergoing surgery.
"And my jaw dropped literally. I was like, 'That's rude.' But they just [said], ‘Hey, this is not a joke, you need to make a choice. You can either go to hospice or you can get these lungs,’” Long said.
Long’s choice relied heavily on the singer being a mom to three-year-old Tatum, whom she shares with her estranged husband, Raysean Hairston. “I look at my son and I think about how much more life that I have to live and [my] quality of life. … I can't sing if I'm not here,” Long said.
The singer went on to reveal that she’s six months post-surgery and that she’s feeling “fabulous.” Her next vocal surgery will be in August, after which she’ll learn whether she can perform live again.
Long, who last released single “Richest” this month, ended by encouraging Black women to rest when necessary, and shared the thoughts that came with facing her own mortality.
“And I thought to myself like, have I really served myself the way that I should? Have I really given myself given to myself the way I give to others? And the answer was no,” she said.
The singer has often spoken on lupus complications, including an August post on Threads, where she wrote about a pair of tights causing “throbbing” leg pain.
