American Idol mentor Tori Kelly has returned to the competition that gave the singer her start. But six months ago, she experienced a life-threatening health scare.
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Kelly ended up collapsing while having dinner with friends in Los Angeles. Rushed to the hospital, Kelly learned from doctors she had blood clots in her legs and lungs. The clots could be life threatening. She said she was "in and out of consciousness." Kelly opened up about the experience with Ryan Seacrest.
She said, "It was super scary. I basically ended up collapsing one night. It was super scary. I was in the hospital. I was set to put out an EP a few days later."
"It happened out of nowhere," she said. "I was feeling just a little tired throughout the day, and my heart rate was kind of high."
Kelly remembered how scared she felt in the moment, but she said she also felt a strange peace.
"On one end, it was scary," she continued, "and then on another end, I did feel this sense of unexplainable peace that it was gonna be OK. I just felt like God had me and it was gonna be OK, but yeah, definitely in the midst of that it was just kind of a confusing whirlwind."
Tori Kelly Talks Scary Experience
Kelly thought she would still be able to make her interviews for the album. But doctors told her that she was experiencing something very serious.
She said, "I'm still good for my interviews tomorrow, right? I have to get out of here. The doctors were like no I think it's a little more serious than that. Thankfully I was in really good hands. They took care of me, and I'm so grateful to be on the other side of it now. I'm feeling great. I'm healthy, which is a blessing."
Kelly has to take blood thinner to protect herself from future clots, but she's mostly returned to normal. She said, "I'm on a medication right now, a blood thinner essentially. But I feel fine. I feel totally back to normal. In some ways, I feel better than ever I think with the excitement of the new music and stuff. I went on tour shortly after. I think the main thing for me is that I feel more grateful in general for life."
The thing that she appreciates the most is how her family and friends rallied around her.
She said, "When you have health scare like that and you realize how fragile life is, how fragile we all are, and friends and family and all these loved ones were reaching out. It was an overwhelming amount of love towards me. I was like whoa, I just want to cherish every moment."
