Missy Elliott is gearing up for her first-ever headlining tour this summer, overcoming health challenges to make it happen.
"I'm hanging in there," the 52-year-old hip-hop legend shares after a long rehearsal. "It's full days, then I go home, and the work continues. But I feel good. I'm super excited."
Her upcoming tour, Out of This World - The Missy Elliott Experience, starts on July 4 and will feature her close friends and longtime collaborators Ciara and Busta Rhymes.
"Ciara had been asking me and asking me," Elliott says about touring together. "I’d be like, 'Okay,' but then I’d always find myself in the studio doing something else." This tour marks Elliott's first time on the road since 2004 and surprisingly, her first headlining show.
A significant factor in her prolonged break was her battle with Graves' disease, which caused severe weight loss and a period of depression. Elliott also admits she’s spent time out of the spotlight because "I'm most definitely an introvert."
Despite her larger-than-life persona and groundbreaking music, "I'm shy," she adds, noting her struggle with severe anxiety over the years. "I don’t know," she says about reconciling her shyness with music stardom. "It’s one of those things I can’t really explain."
Even as she dealt with her health issues in the late 2000s due to her Graves' diagnosis, her legendary creativity never waned. Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder, can cause anxiety, fatigue, and weight loss. During her hiatus from the public eye, she focused on producing hits for other stars. But now, after being the first female hip-hop artist inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year, Elliott is ready for her comeback.
"Missy has always been one of my greatest inspirations and like a big sister to me," Ciara says. "She is the definition of a true artist. She has always raised the bar to the highest level, and I feel so blessed that we have been able to share some of our biggest hits together."
With the upcoming tour, "I have no doubt we are going to give the fans an out-of-this-world experience," Ciara adds.
Elliott is committed to making sure of that. "Every morning my regimen is I get up, wash my face, brush my teeth, and walk," she says. "I say my prayers as I'm walking, and then all of these ideas start coming to mind. I’ll call everybody like, 'I want to swing from this,' and they’re like, 'Do you know how much that costs?'"
Despite the challenges, the star is grateful to be alive and able to perform. "Every day I wake, I'm blessed to be here and in good health," she says, reflecting on the time when her health was deteriorating.
"I'm feeling so much better now," says Elliott, who manages her Graves' disease with medication. "That was a tough time. Every now and then you get a little ache in the leg or the knee, but outside of that, I feel good."
The Quran - Chapter Al-Waqi'ah : 19 - 20
that will cause them neither headache nor intoxication.
They will also be served˺ any fruit they choose
