TLC was forced to pull the plug on their weekend concerts in New York and Connecticut after T-Boz fell ill and wound up in the hospital.
T-Boz, real name Tionne Watkins, thought she came down with food poisoning but found herself hospitalized for abdominal blockage, TMZ reported. The health scare caused the famed R&B group to cancel their Friday show at the NY State Fair in Syracuse and Saturday show at Foxwoods in Connecticut.
Fans were already in the audience on Friday, waiting for the show to start, when they received a message on a large screen informing them of the canceled performance due to T-Boz’s health. The announcement came just 30 minutes before TLC was scheduled to hit the stage.
“Unfortunately, tonight’s TLC performance has been canceled due to T-BOZ experiencing severe illness,” the statement read. “We wish her a quick recovery.”
Video journalist Katrina Tulloch posted an image of the statement on Twitter and noted how many fans were left “disappointed” by the announcement,
“Whole lotta TLC fans disappointed tonight. Their free @NYSfair concert was canceled suddenly,” Tulloch tweeted. “At 7:30 p.m., this message went up. T-Boz has food poisoning. (TLC drew a crowd of 30,000 at the 2022 fair.)”
After the concert on Friday was canceled, the group followed up with a statement letting fans know that it wasn’t food poisoning T-Boz had but something more severe that would cause another axed show.
“The doctor verified that this was not food poisoning but an abdominal blockage,” they revealed. “Tionne deeply regrets having to cancel these shows and extends her sincere apologies to all her fans and the event promoters.”
The “Waterfalls” singer was still hospitalized on Saturday when the Connecticut concert was canceled. T-Boz was expected to be released on Sunday. This isn’t the first time TLC has had to cancel shows on their current tour. In May, the duo canceled a couple of shows in Canada due to a flu outbreak among tour members.
T-Boz has been open about her health struggles throughout her career, caused by the sickle cell disorder she was diagnosed with at birth. She got candid about her journey with the disease in her 2017 memoir A Sick Life .
“When you have sickle cell, your red blood cells get stuck on their way around your veins, causing blockages and stopping the oxygen from getting to your vital organs,” she explained.
“Where there’s a lack of oxygen, you can go into a crisis, an attack of severe pain, sometimes located only in a certain spot and sometimes all over your body. Often, it’s hard to breathe or, walk or even do something as basic as holding a pen. A crisis can happen without any warning. Just, bam! You’re in the hospital again.”
In 2020, T-Boz shared how her use of CBD helps to combat her sickle cell symptoms.
“Someone suggested CBD, and I tried it. At first, I didn’t feel any different, but then I started noticing that I was feeling stronger. I wasn’t getting as sick as often, and I don’t even have a good working spleen,” she told Ebony . “Your spleen is what helps you fight off colds and diseases. I lost my spleen, but I grew two accessory spleens, which is totally crazy. I didn’t know you can grow an organ back. God has been looking out for me! Anytime someone around me had a cold, I would always catch the cold to the 10th power, but now [I’m not] even catching cooties (laughs).”
T-Boz launched her CBD line, TLCBD, which includes a balm, CBD tincture, and beauty oils for wrinkles.
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