Kesha Had a Near-Death Experience Freezing Her Eggs

Kesha has always been candid with her fans about her personal and professional struggles (including her nasty trial against Lukasz Gottwald, aka Dr. Luke, her former allegedly abusive producer). The pop star is opening up once again about health issues she faced in the last year. In a new interview for Self, Kesha revealed that she nearly died earlier this year after having her eggs frozen. After receiving the procedure, the star began to feel extremely weak.

“I almost died in January,” she told the publication about her nine-day stint in a Miami hospital earlier this year. “I finally feel recovered, but it took a couple months."

In 2022, Kesha was also diagnosed with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), an immunodeficiency disease that can cause exhaustion, sluggishness, and digestive disorders, according to Self, as well as put her body at higher risk of infections. Kesha believes that her weakened immune system could've contributed to the adverse reaction she had to freezing her eggs. She adds that for a while, she struggled with the idea of publicly sharing this health crisis because she didn't want to necessarily open the door for other people's opinions.

“I just was taking my reproductive health into my own hands,” she told the outlet. “And I stand by everyone doing that and [honoring] your body.”

“Everyone probably has some semblance of feeling like you share what you’re going through, and, at the same time, it’s almost inviting people to have an opinion about it," she continued. "I don’t have that perfectly mapped out."

This is the exact reason Kesha remained tight-lipped about her boyfriend, though she assured the outlet that "he is amazing!”

"The only thing I’ll say about my boyfriend is: Sometimes, he has to have a face cream intervention and take them away from me," she joked. Case in point? “The other weekend, I thought it would be a good idea — this was not a good idea — to cover my body in castor oil and do a mask.” When her body broke out in hives her partner had to confiscate the oil. “He was like, ‘What did you do?!’” 

Elsewhere in the story, Kesha also spoke about her recovery from bulimia (she was diagnosed 2014 and later received treatment at a facility). “I have a support system in place [of therapists] that I speak to weekly or monthly,” she said. “[After] not allowing myself to eat or enjoy food for so long in my life, I really turned a corner, and now, I fucking love food. I started cooking; I go to the farmers' market. I always have three meal breaks, ’cause being in recovery, I need to have time to sit and have a meal. I have about 30 minutes before I go on stage where I meditate, stretch, and do breathing exercises. People probably think I’m back there doing shots, and [my routine is] the most Zen shit you’ve ever seen.”

If you're struggling with disordered eating, NEDA has put together a list of free or low-cost COVID-19 resources, in addition to their confidential and toll-free National Eating Disorders helpline. You can also refer to their Black Lives Matter resources for additional support.