Source: Cindy Ord / Getty
Jhene Aiko fans know that the singer is best described as a free spirit. The 30-year-old has been extremely vocal about her battles with depression, much of it triggered by the loss of her older brother Miyagi to cancer several years ago. She’s also shared in both interviews and in her music that she often experiments with psychedelics and other drugs recreationally, as a part of her creative process and as a way to deal with her grief and pain. Recently the “While We’re Young” performer took to social media and in a lengthy caption that has since been deleted (BET has the original post) detailed a night she had a near-death experience while staying in Hawaii.
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Aiko posted several pictures of herself on November 29 in which she looks at peace basking in the orange glow of the mountains of Hawaii. One picture was simply captioned, “im going to tell u a story…”
The singer shared in the caption of the next photo that the night before she experienced a sudden headache that ended with her vomiting blood:
“i thought i was going to die the night before i took this picture. i had just spent the day at the Maui Healing Center 2 days prior and left feeling so renewed, enlightened and like i was on the right path to proper healing. the next day, which was the day b4 i took this picture… i took a hike to see a blowhole and visited my favorite statue of Buddha in Lahaina. it was such a good day… but that night after i ate, my head started pounding like never before. so much pain, BUT i promised myself… no more pills!! EVER! not even Tylenol pm, which is all i had with me anyways. so i just let my head ache. i found myself on the bathroom floor… throwing up until i saw blood. i reached out to a few people i love, because i was alone and wasn’t sure what to do… but the island time is so different… everyone was either asleep or on their way. i didn’t want to worry or bother. so i closed my eyes and took 3 deep breaths that turned into morning.”
She went on to say she was happy to have survived and decided to start the next day with a hike:
“i was so happy that i was alive. i was so happy in fact, that even tho my energy was still low… i decided to hike to this place u see in this picture. around 8,000 feet above sea level. i got there later than AllTrails app suggested and only went about 4 miles in (the trail is 11) i packed my backpack w/ my camera and this dress i got at Lightning in a Bottle… cuz something told me to.”
The “Trip” artist who published a book of poetry as well as filmed a short video to accompany her last album talked about feeling a sense of renewal after swimming in the Pacific Ocean following the frightening experience:
“It felt like a baptism of some sort. never too late to start again. never too late to get better.”
A few fans questioned if the singer is struggling with substance abuse again or dealing with heartbreak since she hasn’t been seen with rapper boyfriend Big Sean for some time and even recently covered up a tattoo of his face on her arm with a massive portrait of the planets of Jupiter and Neptune, ruling planets of her Pisces birth sign. Either way we hope all is boding well for the singer and the new beginnings she speaks of and look forward to the dope music she always blesses us with.
