- Dr. Dre appeared on the "Workout the Doubt" podcast earlier this week to discuss his brain aneurysm.
- Dr. Dre said he initially didn't realize how serious the situation was when he was hospitalized.
Dr. Dre shared candid details about being hospitalized last year after experiencing a brain aneurysm.
During an appearance on Dolvett Quince's podcast "Workout the Doubt," Dr. Dre recalled being transported to Cedars-Sinai hospital in January 2021. Music site Diverse Mentality shared a clip of the now-deleted interview, which aired earlier this week, on its Instagram page.
"I'm at Cedars-Sinai hospital and they weren't allowing anybody to come up, meaning visitors or family or anything like that, because of COVID, but they allowed my family to come in," Dr. Dre, 57, said. "I found out later, they called them up so they could say their last goodbyes because they thought I was out of here."
Dr. Dre added that he initially wasn't aware of how serious the situation was when his family visited. At that time, many hospitals around the country had restricted visitor access to combat the transmission COVID-19, making Dr. Dre's visitors an exception.
"Nobody told me," Dr. Dre said. "I had no idea. That was crazy."
Dr. Dre told Quince that he was admitted into the ICU for two weeks, during which doctors woke him up every hour to run medical tests. Dr. Dre said he also didn't eat during that time.
"Because of what was going on in my brain, they had to wake me up every hour, on the hour, for two weeks to do these tests," Dr. Dre said. "Basically, sobriety tests, like touch your nose, rub your heel on your calf, and all that shit."
After being hospitalized, Dr. Dre shared an encouraging update for fans on his Instagram account.
"I'm doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team. I will be out of the hospital and back home soon. Shout out to all the great medical professionals at Cedars," he wrote in the post.
He told the Los Angeles Times in June 2021 interview that high blood pressure may have caused the brain aneurysm.
"I've never had high blood pressure. And I've always been a person that has always taken care of my health. But there's something that happens for some reason with Black men and high blood pressure, and I never saw that coming," he told the outlet. "But I'm taking care of myself. And I think every Black man should just check that out and make sure things are OK with the blood pressure."
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes said the total number of people living in the US with cerebral aneurysms is unclear because "they don't always cause symptoms." However, about 30,000 Americans suffer brain aneurysm ruptures per year, according to the institute.