Una Healy needs to take medication forever after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's.
The Irish singer, 39, was given the 'shocking' diagnosis after a music producer heard her voice during a tour with her former girl group, The Saturdays.
Una was known for her husky-sounding voice, but after her team became worried after hearing her sing, she saw a doctor.
“I remember when I joined the Saturdays first, you probably hear it a lot on the early recordings, my voice was a lot huskier, now I do have a husky tone that comes out sometimes, like a rasp," Una said.
“But I found that it was happening more and more and I went in one day to demo a song we were doing with the girls and the producer went ‘ok, can you do that again’ he looked really worried."
Revealing her ordeal to musician Emm Gryner on Instagram, she admitted: “I felt like I was losing my voice, and the doctor came in and was examining all of us. Because we were all feeling down and I guess the stress of it all.
“And he kind of looked around my neck, and he was like 'you’ve a bit of swelling around your throat there. Have you ever had your thyroid examined?'
“And I said no, so I had my blood checked to check how my thyroid levels were and it turned out I’ve an underactive thyroid, so I’m hyperthyroid.
“It’s an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's.”
The mum-of-two will now take drug thyroxine forever but assured fans she was "totally healthy and completely normal."
The illness, in which the thyroid gland is attacked by the immune system, can cause symptoms including fatigue, depression, infertility, weight gain and Una's trademark husky tones.
The singer previously said that feared that she would be infertile due to the auto-immune disease, before welcoming her two children after the diagnosis.
Una shares her children Aoife, nine, and Tadgh, six, with former rugby player Ben Foden, who she split from in 2018.
Una found fame, fortune and even love with The Saturdays, but has said she won’t be looking for a new fella any day soon.
The singer has said she is “done with heartache” after her marriage became the latest in a string of failed relationships.
Now she is enjoying life and a plotting a potential chart return as she brings up the two kids she had with her rugby star ex-husband Ben.
He lives in the US with his new wife and, while he is still a part of their kids’ lives, it is Una’s mum Ann who has been her greatest support.
Una told the Sunday Mirror: “All of my previous relationships were, ultimately, failures.
“There are good times, that’s why you try and stay but when you know the game is up, you have to say, this is it."
However she added: “I always believe someone deserves a second chance. Everything is worth fighting for.”
