Rick Ross was hospitalized early Thursday morning and is now connected to machines to help him breath and to assist his heart in functioning, according to TMZ. He is in the cardiac unit, which suggests that he suffered a heart attack. The site says he’s hooked to a form of life support that oxygenates his blood from the outside before being put back into his body.
He was hospitalized after someone in his Miami-area home called 911 to report that he was breathing heavy and unresponsive at around 3:30 a.m., according to TMZ. The caller reportedly said that Ross had a history of seizures and that he or she had attempted to wake Ross but that he was “slobbing out the mouth.” The authorities told the site that when he came to, he was belligerent.
An ambulance subsequently took the rapper to a hospital where he is receiving respiratory treatment, which TMZ suggests could be for pneumonia. A family member, however, denied the report, telling the site that Ross had not been hospitalized.
Reps for Rick Ross did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s requests for comment.
In 2011, Ross lost consciousness and suffered a seizure on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis. The plane had to make an emergency landing to save him. He also suffered a seizure on another flight around that time. A couple of weeks later, he said that the cause of the seizers was exhaustion. “I would get two hours of sleep and keep moving,” he said at the time. “That has to stop.” At the time, he said that doctors tested him for a battery of illnesses, including cancer, diabetes and HIV and gave him a clean bill of health.
“It felt like I just dozed off on the couch,” Ross told Rolling Stone of the seizures on the planes. “I actually got off the plane like, ‘Seizure? Y’all are trippin’.'”
Later, he told Rolling Stone that the seizures could have been the result of smoking too much weed. “I’m most definitely an avid user, a pothead, however you want to look at it,” he said. “I call it green caviar. It’s like a short vacation – it helps me chill out. And people really love it when I chill out, because I can really be a dickhead.”
TMZ reports that Ross subsequently shed 100 pounds as he changed his diet and habits, as a result of the scares.
This story is developing.
