Ray J Hospitalized for ‘Severe’ Illness and Heart Pains

Ray J has reportedly been admitted to the hospital with a severe case of pneumonia and heart pains.

TMZ reported Wednesday that the R&B singer, 44, had been hospitalized in Las Vegas and was receiving X-rays and an echocardiogram to help diagnose his symptoms. No subsequent updates have been shared by the musician.

Ray J’s health scare comes four years after he contracted a “serious” case of pneumonia at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, which TMZ reports was so bad, the artist “thought he could die.”

Pneumonia is inflammation and fluid in your lungs caused by a bacterial, viral or fungal infection, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It makes it difficult to breathe and can cause a fever and cough with yellow, green or bloody mucus. Common causes of pneumonia are the flu, COVID-19 and pneumococcal disease.

Prior to his hospitalization, Ray J took to Instagram to share that he was part of a new show called Celebrity Hitchhiker, on which he was hitchhiking across the country. In the video, posted on Dec. 13, Ray J said he was in Tampa, Fla., and that he had a goal of making it to Los Angeles, Calif., in time for Christmas.

“I’m hitchhiking right now to try to get a place to stay tonight,” he said at the time. “Hopefully I can meet a new family, and it can take me in and teach me about their rules and their goals and life, and then send me on my way to the next destination.”

“I need some food and I need shelter,” he told his followers at the time. “Just a lot of s— that’s happened. And I just wanna get back home and see my kids. It’s a hitchhiking show, but it’s real though at the same time, and I wanna make it really authentic. I just do it for real on my phone. I mean, I have a camera in there too, but it’s just me.”