T Boz had a brain tumor

39 year-old Grammy Award Winner Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins  of the world famous group TLC revealed to People magazine that for three years she secretly battled a brain tumor.

Coming in the October 12 edition of the magazine, T-Boz admitted to having a surgical procedure in 2006 that was seven hours long as doctors fought to peel away a tumor from her brain stem.

The former TLC singer talks of having fought the tumor during her appearance on Donald Trump’s reality competition show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” but didn’t want the public to know. “I didn’t want pity,” she said. “I was there to help sick children.” At the time, along with Trump’s show, T-Boz also competed to help raise funds for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia.

Her inspiration is believed to be from her own diagnosis with the life-long blood disorder when she was a child.

T-Boz says that people are still “shocked” when she tells them about her previous affliction but still declares, “I won’t let you feel sorry for me.” The 39-year-old divorced mother was named one of the “50 Most Beautiful People of the World” by People magazine in 1994 and 2000.