- Muni Long’s lupus diagnosis led to a life-threatening health crisis during a tour, requiring emergency double lung transplant.
- Doctors gave her one week to live, but Long decided to undergo the risky surgery to have more time with her son.
- After a successful transplant, Long’s new voice is even better than before, though she’s still recovering vocal abilities.
Muni Long is opening up about a terrifying time in her life, which led to her undergoing a double lung transplant.
The singer revealed the details of her health journey this week on Good Morning America, which is when she revealed that she underwent a double lung transplant after bowing out early from Brandy and Monica’s The Boy Is Mine Tour.
Long, 37, opened up to co-anchor Robin Roberts about her health struggles during the 2025 tour, admitting that she wasn’t in a spot to embark on the journey in the first place.
“I should have never taken that tour. But there was so much going on in my life where I had to do it,” said the singer, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2014.
The Grammy winner went on to recall falling ill during the tour and catching pneumonia, admitting that she barely made it through her final show.
“I was only able to do two songs,” she recalled of her final night on tour.
Long went home for Thanksgiving and “woke up in the hospital,” which is where the doctors informed her that she would need a double lung transplant.
“I knew for a really long time that something was wrong,” the singer explained. “Every day I’m, like, spitting in cups and coughing all the time. Trying to take all these medicines to get through the day. With this industry, you’re always in people’s faces. So, I’m taking pictures, and I’m just huffing and puffing like I just ran a marathon.”
Even though Long felt “so much better” after waking up in the hospital, she was then informed of her prognosis from a team of doctors, who told her she only had one week to live.
“My jaw dropped. Literally. I was like, ‘That’s rude.’ But they were kind of like, ‘This is not a joke. You need to make a choice. You can either go to hospice or you can get these lungs,’” she recalled.
While Long was hesitant to undergo the surgery, she says her son inspired her decision.
“The ego and the vanity was just like, ‘But what about my voice? What’s going to happen?’ But then I look at my son, and I think about how much more life that I have to live. Quality of life was first. I can’t sing if I’m not here,” she said.
She underwent the operation about six months ago and is now doing “fabulous.”
“Tomorrow is my last appointment for all the things,” she revealed. “No symptoms. Asymptomatic. No infections. None of that. Then I have my vocal checkup, six months will be in August because I had to have vocal surgery, as well.”
Long recently released a new single called, “The Riches,” which she revealed was the last song she recorded before her health complications. Luckily, she thinks her new voice is even better than hers before the transplant.
“My voice now is totally different. It’s actually better, should I say? But I don’t know that I can perform yet,” she said. “They gave me six months to a year.”
Muni Long announced her exit from The Boy Is Mine Tour on Nov. 29, 2025. She wrote on social media at the time, “As many of you know, I’ve been battling some health issues throughout The Boy Is Mine Tour. Despite doing everything I can to push through, my doctors have made it clear that it’s not safe for me to continue with the remaining dates of the tour.”
The following February, Long opened up to People about her experience with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease.
“Please turn the air off when I come in the building. I’m not being a diva, but literally if I get too cold, I start coughing and I won’t be able to sing,” she revealed. “And then when I get off stage, I have to lay down immediately and wrap up in covers and steam my voice,” she said at the time.
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