Missy Elliott is one of the greatest rappers of all time — let alone female rappers — so it’s cool to see that she’ll be getting her just due with her first-ever tour as a headlining act.
But as she gears up for the career milestone, the Virginia MC is also opening up about issues that she’s dealing with in her personal life...namely, a medical diagnosis that’s kept her on the back foot.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Missy opened up about living with Graves’ disease, going through severe weight loss, her past issues dealing with depression in the early 2000s, and also her upcoming “Out of This World - The Missy Elliott Experience” tour with close friends and collaborators Ciara and Busta Rhymes.
Graves’ disease is a condition that affects a person’s immune system, specifically causing the body to make too much thyroid hormone. As a result, many people with the disorder deal with issues like weight loss and fatigue, according to the Mayo Clinic.
When talking about living with Graves’ disease, Missy said, “Every day I wake, I’m blessed to be here and in good health. I’m feeling so much better now. That was a run. Every now and then you get a little ache in the leg or the knee, but outside of that, I feel good.”
Missy revealed that she’s “shy”, telling PEOPLE that “it’s one of those things I can’t really explain.” But people with Graves’ disease can also suffer from anxiety and nervousness, which is why it may have taken Missy a long time to organize her first-ever headlining tour.
She’s been on several tours, but in her nearly three decades as a Hip-Hop superstar, this will be the first time Missy will serve the main act, and her first time on the road since 2004.
“Ciara had been asking me and asking me,” Missy told PEOPLE, “I’d be like, ‘Okay,’ but then I’d always find myself in the studio doing something else.”
Now, she’s finally finding the time.
It’s only right that fans get the chance to celebrate her on the road. More than a year ago, Missy became the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, calling her “a true pathbreaker in a male-dominated genre.”