Dancing with the Stars contestant Tamar Braxton has been forced to drop out of the Season 21 competition due to an even more serious issue than pneumonia.

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The singer, talk show host and sister of performer Toni Braxton has announced her Dancing with the Stars departure, revealing Wednesday that she's been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism or blood clots.

Tamar was hospitalized Monday night before DWTS' performance show began airing for what she believed at the time was pneumonia and exhaustion. However, she shockingly returned towards the end of the episode and still performed a joint routine with her pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy, fellow contestant Nick Carter and his partner Sharna Burgess.

"With a Heavy heart I regret to inform you that my season of #dwts has to come to an end along with the rest of my tour dates... After [Monday]'s final #dwts performance I went back to the hospital (after the doctors didn't want me to leave in the first place) only to find out that I don't have pneumonia but something way more serious and that is having several P.E.'s (blood clots in both sides of my lungs)," Tamar wrote on Instagram.

"As you all know I will be the first to always encourage anyone to push through any obstacle that comes along one's way. But in this case, my health is my current obstacle... And in TRUE #tamartian form I must go about this the exact same way as I would anything else. I woke up to a mirror and saw myself this morning and that makes me the winner because that almost wasn't the case."

Tamar asked her fans to take care of themselves and additionally thanked them for all of their support. She then gave a shout out to Chmerkovskiy in particular for being her rock during this hard time.

"P.s. Big hugs and kisses to my boo @iamvalc for being beyond a friend, brother and the BEST partner EVER," she added.

Tamar, 38, wrote this long message as the caption to a photo of herself in a hospital bed with Chmerkovskiy sitting by her side. She appeared depressed as she clung onto a stuffed animal, while Chmerkovskiy was looking at her with an adorable sad puppy-dog face.

Chmerkovskiy also posted a similar picture on Instagram of the two of them in the hospital. He included a few sad-faced emojis and the caption "#teamvalentay."

Tamar isn't the first celebrity contestant forced to withdraw from Dancing with the Stars this season due to illness. In late September, Kim Zolciak had to leave the show because she missed an entire performance show after suffering a mini-stroke. Zolciak was cleared by doctors to dance but not to fly in a plane, so she couldn't get to LA for the broadcast.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.