Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott embarked on her music career with an all-female R&B group in the early 1990s and later teamed up with her childhood friend and producer Timbaland. Elliott is one of the few female producers in pop music. She has also worked on songs for Mary J. Blige, MC Lyte, Ciara, Ginuwine, TLC, SWV and Total. Following several guest collaborative work, in 1997, she launched her solo career with the release of her debut album Supa Dupa Fly, which spawned a number of hit singles including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and "Sock It 2 Me".
It seems as though she after she embarked on her solo career, there was no turning back. That is, until now (well, kind of). People have been talking about how young Missy looks now after she dropped a photo of herself on her Instagram.
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Even though Elliott has struggled because of race at times, she wouldn't trade being Black for anything else. "We are survivors, and once we know that, we are unstoppable," she proclaimed in an interview with Elle. "I always said I wouldn't be no other color, because if there's one thing about us, we never really had, but we know how to — we know how to survive."
With Missy, it's like she's living one of her famous lyrics: "flip it and reversed it"--her aging that is. And she's been able to look younger in spite of years battling a serious health condition: Graves’ disease.
“I couldn’t write because my nervous system was so bad – I couldn’t even use a pen,” the Grammy-winning artist told People magazine about her thyroid condition.
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Elliott was diagnosed with the condition in 2008 after involuntary jerking in her leg - effects of the disease – caused her to nearly crash her car.
But it wasn't her first medical scare. Back in 2002, Elliott lost 71 pounds after doctors warned she could suffer a stroke if she didn’t lose weight. Missy has since made exercise and a healthy diet that limits fried foods, bread and sugar a part of her daily lifestyle.
After making the Graves' Disease diagnosis public in 2011, many were unfamiliar with this debilitating disease. Here are some of the facts:
What Is Graves’ Disease?
Graves' disease is an autoimmune disorder that can cause hyperthyroidism, or overactive thyroid. The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck. Thyroid hormones control the way your body uses energy, so they affect nearly every organ in your body, even the way your heart beats.
What Are The Symptoms?
The symptoms include: double vision, insomnia, fatigue, muscle weakness, rapid heart rate and...
...tremors. In addition to the leg tremors, Elliot says she also suffered mood swings, hair loss and much-speculated dramatic weight loss.
"I'm another 30 pounds lighter because I've been exercising," Elliott explained at the time. The star credits her new found added weight loss to fitness guru Shaun T of the Insanity fitness videos.
The condition can be treated with proper diet and exercise, in addition to radiation therapy and medications that help to shrink the thyroid gland.
Elliott continues to perform, opening up the 2014 BET Awards with Pharrell Williams, performing at the superbowl and has a new album on the way. All are proof that living a normal life after diagnosis is possible when the disease is caught early enough and managed properly.
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