Prayers up for Monica Denise Arnold! The Grammy-award-winning singer fainted at her Houston concert on Saturday night, Dec. 30.
Cellphone footage circled the internet and showed a stagehand carrying the seemingly unconscious multiplatinum artist in his arms as he directed her backstage, away from the public eye.
According to a concertgoer, the “Angel of Mine” songwriter wrapped up her performance of “So Gone” (2003) and five minutes after removing her jacket, she passed out.
Cellphone video captured the end of “So Gone,” where Monica expressed gratitude and wished for safe travels for the audience before approaching a concerned stage member and shaking her head at him. The two had a brief conversation before he wrapped his arms around her waist and escorted her backstage.
Many audience members reported noticing something off about Monica before she exited the stage and fainted.
“Baby girl looked and sounded exhausted! She looked great, but something seemed off,” musician Khordelle posted on X on Dec. 31.
Reports stated Monica left the venue in an ambulance.
Other videos contained Monica performing “For You I Will” while honoring fallen music stars like rappers Takeoff, Young Dolph and Trouble.
The concert took place at the NRG Arena in Houston on Dec. 30, including performances by Monica, K. Michelle, and R&B singer Joe.
A couple of X (formerly Twitter) users noted how hot NRG was that night.
“Wow, Monica passed out. It was too hot in there. NRG out of line,” the user wrote.
“Damn, glad she’s ok. It was hot as hell in that place,” one person responded.
The cause of Monica’s collapse has yet to be determined, but it wasn’t the first time the tenacious singer passed out during a performance.
In a 2016 interview with HuffPost, Monica recalled a similar incident during a performance in Washington, D.C. Then-18-year-old Monica was mid “Angel of Mine” when the fainting signs snuck up on her.
“Everything in front of me basically began to go from color to black-and-wide, fading in and out,” she recalled. “I walked to the side of the stage to ask for help and collapsed into one of our staff people’s arms.”
Monica’s mysterious condition stumped doctors who worked to find the root of her health problems. She was ultimately diagnosed with a heart condition called mitral valve prolapse, where the leaflets or cusps of her upper and lower heart chambers failed to close correctly. According to a study from the Journal of the National Medical Association, “It was found (1) that evidence of mitral valve prolapse occurs in 17% of blacks, which is comparable to the highest prevalence estimates in whites; (2) that, as with whites, blacks with evidence of mitral prolapse tended to be young women; and (3) that the high prevalence and variable spectrum of mitral prolapse punctuate the importance of identifying the presumably small but significant subgroup(s) susceptible to the condition’s known complications.”
