Weeks after last month’s intense scare regarding her health and whereabouts, Kelly Price is back to being active on social media. The esteemed singer shared an update with her fanbase via an Instagram Live on Sunday (Oct. 17).
“I am wonderful. I am wonderful. I am alive. I am working my way back to full health. I am so grateful,” Price began. During the 13-minute livestream, she spoke on her current condition and what that means for her career. “I don’t know how to explain to you all what this experience has been. Contracting COVID—I had the Delta variant—it’s the sickest I’ve ever been in my entire life,” she expressed.
The Mirror Mirror singer went on to explain the long-term effects of her infection and recovery, which include “having to learn how to use [her] lungs again to get them to full capacity.” Price revealed she suffered from not only COVID, but also COVID pneumonia and double pneumonia in both lungs.
“Even when I left the hospital, my left lung was damaged and my right lung was severely diminished. So coming out of the hospital, I was on oxygen for four weeks— connected to an oxygen machine in my bed,” she stated.
Since her discharge from the hospital in August, Price is in respiratory therapy and has to see a cardiologist, which she says is admittedly “one of the hardest things to accept.” She also spoke on her performance abilities. “If I wanted to sing a song right now, I could probably sing it, but not full out,” she said. “Can’t do a concert because I don’t have the capacity or the stamina to get through an entire concert just yet.”
When reports of her being missing began to surface, fans and friends asked her to go live to refute the claims. Price addressed the past requests, explaining, “I looked horrible. I felt horrible and I’m not about to make excuses for that because I think that anybody with any level of understanding if you’ve ever had any kind of an illness; it didn’t even have to be COVID— you understand.”
“And people convalesce differently,” she continued before pausing. “I did not want to be on camera, looking and feeling the way I felt. This has been one of the most excruciating and painful experiences of my life. I was very sick. I did flatline and doctors were able to bring me back.” She also spoke on her health days after she was reported missing.”
Price stated that she wants to continue speaking on the long-term effects surrounding COVID because “it’s important for people to understand especially in the communities of people of color and the underserved community.”
Watch Kelly Price’s full video update below.