JoJo Siwa has offered an update on her health after being hospitalized in “excruciating pain” for a “burst” ovarian cyst.
“So long story short, every time that I’ve been dancing for the last couple of days or even just walking, like anything, my stomach would just really, really hurt,” Siwa, 22, explained via TikTok on Saturday, November 29. “And I don’t know why, but it just kind of passed, and so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s that time of the month, maybe it’s a cramp, I don’t know.’”
Her latest bout of stomach pain struck at the worst possible time because Siwa was scheduled to perform at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on Friday, November 28.
Siwa’s fans were worried when she revealed via Instagram that she was “in the hospital” shortly before the show was supposed to start.
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In her TikTok clip, Siwa recalled trying to take a nap before the Mall of America appearance in hopes of sleeping off the pain — though she soon felt even worse.
“I laid down, I closed my eyes, and I was like, ‘I can’t breathe,’ ” she remembered.
Siwa next tried sitting inside her hotel bathtub to see if it would relax her muscles, only for the pain to intensify once again.
“That set it off 100 times worse,” Siwa said. “I was in [the bathtub] for maybe four minutes, and all of a sudden I was like, ‘I have to get out immediately.’ because I knew I was gonna black out and I felt like I was gonna throw up.”
Now in severe pain, Siwa let her mom, dance instructor Jessalynn Siwa, know how bad she was feeling and they decided to get her checked out. She recalled that 9-1-1 medics initially “didn’t really know what was wrong” because her vitals were “normal.”
However, doctors at a local hospital eventually discovered that “one of [her] ovaries had a cyst on it that burst and was bleeding into [her] stomach.”
JoJo Siwa in March 2025. ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP; Getty Images
“That’s what was causing the excruciating pain — anytime that the blood in your stomach moves, that’s the bleeding in the stomach,” Siwa told her TikTok followers. “It’s brutal pain. Long story short, [the issue] should revolve itself. It should stop on its own.”
Siwa thanked the medical staff for getting her “out of the hospital within two hours” so she could still perform her new festive single “Message to the World (Little Drummer Girl)” at the Mall of America.
“Today, we’re gonna go to work and we’re gonna dance again. I’m afraid how this dance is gonna affect me because I’m going to be dancing, but it’s only going to be an hour. We’re going to do it,” she explained. “We’re going to keep it pushing, and if I vomit or if I have that excruciating pain burst again, I’ve got to go immediately back in, but we should be OK.”
The Celebrity Big Brother U.K. star assured her fans that she was “doing all right” on Saturday, but was far from feeling “100 percent” yet. Siwa also confirmed that she planned to get the cyst checked again next week.
Her health troubles occurred just over a month after a major relationship milestone for Siwa and her boyfriend, Love Island U.K. star Chris Hughes. They made their red carpet debut at the Dancers Against Cancer’s 2025 Gala of the Stars at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on October 21.
Hughes, 32, surprised Siwa at the gala by giving her the Humanitarian Award in recognition of her work on behalf of cancer charities.
“The Humanitarian Award’s incredible,” he exclusively told Us Weekly at the event. “So, to come here tonight, and kind of have a small involvement and able to present her with the award, is very special. It was an easy flight to come over to see JoJo, to see the family and to see everyone here.”
Siwa and Hughes started off as friends while they were both appearing on Celebrity Big Brother U.K. earlier this year. They went public with their romantic relationship in June.
“It’s not platonic anymore, and it’s been a beautiful development, a beautiful connection, and I’m absolutely head over heels for him and he’s the same way,” Siwa told The Guardian in an interview published on June 2.
