Muni Long Opens Up About Her Lupus Battle and the Struggles Behind the Spotlight
Singer Muni Long may be known for her unforgettable hits, but behind the scenes, she’s battling a tough, invisible fight—living with lupus. This chronic autoimmune disease affects everyone differently, causing painful flare-ups that can impact daily life. For 36-year-old Long, it often shows up in her skin, as she shared in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.
“[People with lupus] have little signs, right? Like my fingertips will start turning blue. My skin will get really pale,” Long explains. “I’ll start looking super white. Which is hard to imagine because I’m brown-skinned. But literally my skin will turn like a light, ashy color.”
Lupus disproportionately affects Black women, with about 1 in 250 developing the disease in their lifetime—often experiencing more severe symptoms. While Long manages some flare-ups without major disruptions, others force her to change plans completely.
“I recently had to cancel my college football playoff performance on Jan. 18th because I had a flare-up due to some personal things,” Long shared.
Even her singing career requires extra precautions. When she joined Chris Brown as an opener for his 11:11 tour last summer, she had to take special steps to protect her health.
“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,” Long reveals. “And then when I get off stage, I have to lay down immediately and wrap up in covers and steam my voice.”
Beyond the physical symptoms, Long also faces the same struggles that many Black women experience in the healthcare system—often feeling ignored or dismissed by doctors.
“As a Black woman, when I go to the doctor, they never listen,” Long said when asked how lupus affects her daily life. “They don’t believe you. So it’s hard to tell them, ‘Hey, I’m in a lot of pain.’ They’re like, ‘OK, cool. Go get this blood work.’”
She continued, “I’m like, ‘OK, but that’s going to take you like a week [to get the results back.] I’m in excruciating pain. Is there anything you can do?’ And then it just becomes a thing of like they put down on your chart [something] like, ‘Oh, you’re asking for medication.’ It’s just so, so hard navigating with the way that the health care system is set up.”
For now, Long is focused on keeping her stress levels low, as stress can trigger lupus flare-ups.
“The thing for me is I really have to just not allow people to stress me out, which is hard because people get on my nerves,” Long says, laughing. “So the best tool that I have is just staying relaxed and not doing anything I don’t want to do. We do our best to make sure that kind of stuff doesn’t happen and before I step into a space, I can be as comfortable as possible.”
Long isn’t alone in her battle—other celebrities who have opened up about their lupus journeys include Toni Braxton, Nick Cannon, and Snoop Dogg’s daughter, Cori Broadus.
