LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 16: Toni Braxton attends the MARCELL VON BERLIN Spring/Summer 2022 Runway Fashion Show on September 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Toni Braxton revealed she underwent emergency surgery last year to address a blockage in her heart’s main artery. Braxton recalled the ‘shocking’ experience in a conversation with PEOPLE, published on Tuesday (April 25).
But Toni first discovered that her “left main coronary artery was 80% blocked” in late September 2022. The star has previously opened up about having systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). According to the outlet, doctors first diagnosed Toni with “the most common form” of the autoimmune disease in 2008.
Though she regularly keeps track of her lupus’s effect on her organs–via urine and blood tests–last year, she reportedly “slipped up.”
“It was a traumatic moment for me. I was in shock,” Toni told PEOPLE. “I remember that day because my chest was aching often, just hurting. And I thought I was just sad because, unfortunately, my sister has just passed, and I thought, wow, I’m really aching in my heart for my sister.”
As previously reported, Traci Braxton passed away in March 2022 after battling esophageal cancer privately for a year. She was 50. A few weeks after Traci’s death, Toni spoke to Tamron Hall about the aftermath of losing her sister.
