Lil Nas X says he’s “lost control” of half of his face.
The rapper, 26, posted an Instagram video from his hospital bed on Monday, April 14, writing in a caption, “Soooo lost control of the right side of my face 😭.”
In the clip, he shares the news in disbelief and tries to smile normally.
“This is me doing a full smile, by the way,” he said, showing how the right side of his face was immobile compared with his left.
“I can’t even laugh, bro!” he said. “What the f***? Oh my God.”
The Grammy winner’s friends and fans left supportive messages in the comments section of his post.
“Get well baby 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾,” Taraji P. Henson wrote, while Holly Robinson Peete asked, “Is it Bell’s palsy? If so, that’s not funny. 😢 I hope you get better soon. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, Bell’s palsy is “a condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face. Often the weakness is short-term and improves over weeks. The weakness makes half of the face appear to droop. Smiles are one-sided, and the eye on the affected side is hard to close.”
It is not known what causes the temporary facial paralysis, though medical experts believe “it’s caused by swelling and irritation of the nerve that controls the muscles on one side of the face,” Mayo Clinic stated on its website.
Celebrities who have experienced Bell’s palsy include George Clooney, Katie Holmes and Angelina Jolie.
Lil Nas X’s health setback comes a month after he released new songs from his upcoming second studio album, Dreamboy. At the time, the “Old Town Road” hitmaker revealed that he’d nearly collaborated on music with Taylor Swift, but the project fell apart before coming to fruition.
“We were working on something,” he told E! News in late March. “She offered to let me try a verse on something, but I couldn’t catch a vibe for it, so it didn’t happen.”
He isn’t ruling out a future collaboration with the pop star, however. He added: “When it happens… Global. World. Tay-tay and Nassy.”
Though the vibe wasn’t right the first time, Lil Nas X had nothing but praise for Swift in his E! interview.
“I’m proud of my girl,” he said. “I love the album. She’s been doing her thing. She’s at the very tippety top. I’m thankful that she even considered me.”
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