Halsey has revealed that doctors may have missed her lupus for eight years because she 'looked so white', despite being half Black. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, known for 'Without Me', 'Bad At Love' and 'Closer' with The Chainsmokers, opened up about the delayed diagnosis during a conversation with Benny Blanco on his Friends Keep Secrets podcast.
The 31-year-old said lupus should have been considered earlier because the autoimmune condition disproportionately affects women of colour. Instead, she said doctors later admitted they had not fully weighed her racial background, even after she told them.
The revelation has turned Halsey's health story into something bigger than a celebrity diagnosis. It is now a blunt conversation about medical bias, racial visibility and how dangerous assumptions can become when a patient does not match a doctor's expectation of risk.
Halsey Reveals the Eight-Year Road to Her Lupus Diagnosis
During the podcast, Benny Blanco asked Halsey: 'It's very hard to have lupus if you're white. Correct?'
Halsey replied: 'It's predominantly African-American women, Latin women. And I'm half black, so that was another thing too.'
The singer, whose real name is Ashley Frangipane, said the delayed diagnosis became even more frustrating once doctors reviewed what had been missed. She said: 'A lot of my doctors were like, that sucks, you look so white, because we probably would have found this a lot sooner if we knew.'
Halsey said she had already told them. Recalling the exchange, she added: 'And I was like, I told you guys. And they're like, yeah, we didn't really take it serious, didn't really consider it.'
She then summed up the frustration with one sharp line: 'The genes are the same, brother.'
That quote is the emotional centre of the story. Halsey was not simply saying doctors missed a rare illness. She was saying they missed a clue because they did not take her identity seriously enough.
Why Lupus Is Often Missed in Women of Colour
Lupus can be difficult to diagnose because symptoms often overlap with other conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states systemic lupus erythematosus can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, brain and other organs, with symptoms that can flare and fade over time.
The racial disparity is also well documented. The CDC says Black or African American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations are affected more than white populations. It also says Black and American Indian or Alaska Native women are two to three times more likely than white women to develop lupus.
A major lupus prevalence study by Pubmed also found that systemic lupus erythematosus was nine times higher among females than males, with the highest prevalence among Black females, followed by Hispanic females.
That context matters because Halsey's story shows how racial assumptions can cut both ways. If a doctor sees a patient as white, they may fail to consider a disease more commonly associated with women of colour. For biracial patients, that can mean being caught between categories in a system that should be looking at the whole person.
Halsey's Illness Also Shaped Her Latest Album
Halsey has previously shared that she was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, with both conditions beginning in 2022. The Lupus Research Alliance publicly thanked the singer in 2024 for speaking about her diagnosis and drawing attention to lupus awareness.
That pain later became part of The Great Impersonator, Halsey's fifth studio album, which was written during a period of serious illness and released in 2024. The record wrestles with identity, mortality and legacy, with Halsey previously framing it as the kind of album made while facing the possibility that it could be her last.
The album has also returned to public conversation after Halsey recently clashed with music critic Anthony Fantano over his harsh review of the project. In a viral post, Halsey fired back: 'Everything you say is more "whiny" and "edgy" than I was at any point on that album. But at least I had the excuse of going through chemo.'
That is why her latest lupus revelation hits even harder. Halsey was not only making music about illness from a distance. She was writing through chemotherapy, survival fears and years of being medically misread, turning The Great Impersonator into more than a concept album. It now reads as a public record of a body that kept trying to be believed.
