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2021 Lights On Music Festival

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Keyshia Cole had a scare recently that sent her to the emergency room. On social media, the “Heaven Sent” singer said after experiencing chest pain, she went to the hospital and found out her pain was related to anxiety.

“I’m so proud of getting a few hours sleep, literally have been getting None! So not ok. SMH,” she wrote on her Instagram Story on May 4. “And have been having the worst anxiety attacks. When I can literally feel my heart hurting. Had to to take my a** to the emergency room. They gave me damn medicine for anxiety. I didn’t KNOW wtf was happening to me..”

Cole has experienced some devastating losses in the past year. Her mother, Frankie Lons, died of a drug overdose in July 2021.

“We will miss you,” she captioned a video of a balloon release outside of her mom’s funeral. “I tried to spend as much time close to her as I could, in that church. When we got to the mausoleum, I asked if I could see her one last time💜 I kno her spirit was no longer there in the physical, I just hope she was able to see that we came together in celebration of her name, the laughs, love, and honesty she brought to this world…. I’ve internalized a lot as of recent.”

Just months later in November 2021, her adoptive father Leon Cole died of COVID-19 complications.

“He’s the entire reason my last name is COLE,,” she wrote on Instagram in an emotional post. “The only father I knew, he did such a great job here on earth!!!!! He made sure (Even tho he wasn’t my biological father) to keep a stable foundation and roof over all of our heads during our upbringing!!!!”

In December 2021, her dog Lola, which she had for 14 years, also died.

Cole’s struggle with anxiety is one that is very familiar for many Black women. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, anxiety symptoms are more common and more intense for Black women than white women. Research has shown that Black people are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

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