Brazilian singer Anitta thought she was “going to die” as she battled a mystery illness in 2022 — all while making her sixth studio album.
“I was super, super unhealthy,” the “Ahi” hitmaker, 31, remembered about her terrifying mystery illness — which left her hospitalized for five months — during her “Today” show appearance Friday. “I got really sick and was so physically ill I couldn’t work.”
“I hadn’t stopped working in so many years,” she reflected. “It was a big wake up call that I physically couldn’t do many things that I loved doing because of my health. I had to take time to take care of myself.”
Anitta, who was born Larissa de Macedo Machado, told “Today” that part of taking care of herself was putting her soul into her newest album, “Funk Generation,” which debuted in April.
“I made ‘Funk Generation’ in the hospital,” she confirmed. “I was like, I want an album like this — in case I die I’m going to leave an album that I’m proud of.”
“I’m really proud of this album, and I didn’t do it thinking about streams and algorithms and numbers. I thought just about having fun and loving what I did.”
The 2023 Grammy nominee decided to create “Funk Generation” after her helplessness in the hospital forced her into a reality check and “changed (her) whole mentality.”
“I just wasted so much time of my life trying to reach goals, and please people and be a success,” she reasoned.
Anitta never received a diagnosis for her condition, but said she is fully recovered. She is currently touring through North America on her Baile Funk Experience Tour.
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She touched upon her health scare during a September 2023 chat with InStyle as well and said at one point she thought she had cancer.
“I had problems in my lungs, I had a cancer [scare]. I spent months in the hospital. Nobody could figure out what I had,” she recalled.
Before her mystery sickness, Anitta announced she had been diagnosed with endometriosis in July 2022 after suffering from severe symptoms for nine years.
“The pain is so bad that you want to do EVERYTHING to make it go away,” she tweeted.
Encouraging fans to fight until they find an answer, she added, “Seek more than one doctor, more than one opinion. If one doesn’t solve it… go to another until it solves it.”
“It’s not normal for us to live with this pain like this forever.”
