The Moment
JoJo Siwa says she was rushed to a Minnesota hospital with excruciating pain and trouble breathing just hours before she was due to perform at the Mall of America – and still made it to the show.
In a TikTok posted Saturday, the 22-year-old performer calmly curled her hair while walking fans through what sounds like a truly miserable morning. Before her Friday performance, she says she woke up with pain so intense she couldn’t breathe, tried lying down and even taking a bath, and instead felt things get “a hundred times worse.”
According to her video, her mom, Jessalynn Siwa, helped her get dressed and called 911. JoJo was taken by ambulance to a Minnesota hospital, where she says doctors discovered an ovarian cyst had burst and was bleeding into her abdomen – a medical emergency that can cause the kind of brutal pain she described.
Once pain meds kicked in, JoJo told followers she was “feeling great,” even dancing in the hospital bed, and made it back in time to perform at the mall. Fans flooded her comments with praise for her work ethic – and a whole lot of “please rest” messages.
The Take
I’ll say it: This story is equal parts inspiring and slightly terrifying.
On one hand, JoJo powering through a burst ovarian cyst to still hit the stage is the kind of wild dedication that makes people love her. She’s always been that kid who goes full throttle – sequins, bows, teeth practically vibrating with energy.
But on the other hand… we have a 22-year-old who just had internal bleeding and her first instinct, by her own account, was to tell hospital staff there were “a lot of people” waiting at the mall for her show. That’s not just hustle. That’s a whole cultural script talking.
This is the dark side of the “the show must go on” myth: it trains performers – especially former child stars – to treat their bodies like rental cars. Pain is a problem only if it makes you late.
What JoJo did is like driving on a blown tire because you don’t want to disappoint the passengers. It sounds heroic in the retelling, but at the time? It’s dangerous, and it teaches every young fan watching that showing up matters more than staying alive and well.
To her credit, her fans tried to flip that script in the comments, praising her but also begging her to slow down. That might be the most hopeful part of this whole thing: a generation raised on grind culture quietly starting to say, “Actually… no. Sit down.”
Receipts
JoJo Siwa Says She Was Rushed to Hospital For ‘Excruciating Pain’ Before Concert https://t.co/8KWhKZ6vsL pic.twitter.com/5D7ruDfQSc
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 29, 2025
Confirmed
- In a TikTok posted on Saturday, JoJo Siwa says she woke up in “excruciating” pain before a Friday Mall of America performance, struggled to breathe, and tried lying down and taking a bath to ease it.
- She says her mom, Jessalynn, helped her get dressed, called 911, and she was taken by ambulance to a Minnesota hospital.
- JoJo recounts that hospital staff performed an ultrasound and told her she had an ovarian cyst that had burst and was bleeding into her stomach, causing severe pain.
- She says once pain medication kicked in, she felt “much, much better,” was dancing in her hospital bed, and was able to make it back to perform at the mall.
- Fans’ comments, visible on her TikTok, both praise her dedication and urge her to rest and put her health first.
- The incident and her account of a burst ovarian cyst were summarized in a November 29, 2025 report by Page Six, which cites her TikTok video.
Unverified / Opinion
- Any long-term health impact from this specific ovarian cyst is not publicly known; JoJo has not shared follow-up medical details beyond the immediate emergency.
- Questions about whether she should have skipped the show are opinion, including mine – not medical advice.
Sources (human-readable): JoJo Siwa’s TikTok account, video posted November 2025 describing her hospital visit and ovarian cyst; coverage of that video and performance timing in Page Six, November 29, 2025.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you mostly know JoJo as “the girl with the giant bows,” here’s the quick refresher. She first popped up on reality TV series Dance Moms as a kid, then became a full-blown brand: Nickelodeon deals, sold-out tours, YouTube, merch aisles that looked like unicorns exploded. In 2021, she publicly came out, later joined Dancing With the Stars as part of the show’s first same-sex dance partnership, and has spent the last few years trying to grow up her image from kids’ TV sparkle to adult pop performer. Underneath all the glitter is a real workhorse – and this hospital story fits that pattern a little too well.
What’s Next
Right now, JoJo is framing the incident as a scary-but-handled medical emergency. She thanked doctors and nurses in her TikTok, saying she was “grateful” for how quickly they worked and that they got her back in time to “keep it pushing.”
What to watch for next:
- Her own updates: Whether she posts about follow-up care, rest, or any schedule changes will tell us a lot about how seriously she and her team are taking recovery.
- Future performances: If she keeps up a packed schedule with no visible break, that’s one kind of message. If she builds in time off, that’s another – and a powerful example for the teens watching her every move.
- The conversation around it: Fans are already nudging her toward putting health first. If JoJo leans into that, she could flip this from “I worked through pain” to “I listened to my body,” which honestly would be the better plot twist.
For now, the main thing is that she’s home, she’s talking, and she’s clearly trying to reassure everyone. The real question is whether she’ll eventually feel just as comfortable saying, “I canceled to take care of my body” as she does saying, “I made it back in time for the show.”
Your turn: When a performer goes onstage right after a medical emergency like this, do you see it as admirable dedication, or a worrying sign that our “never cancel” culture has gone too far?
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