FANTASIA BARRINO

The singer, who was a hit as Celie in the stage spectacular last year (07), sparked rumours of pregnancy when she missed a run of shows - and her publicist merely told the media Barrino was unwell.

Now, the star has confirmed her battle to stay healthy took a lot out of her and left her feeling drained and too tired to perform every night.

She tells urban magazine Sister 2 Sister, "I couldn't get enough sleep and sometimes onstage, I could taste blood... every now and then.

"They (producers) would send me to the hospitals and they would say, 'Well, she's dehydrated; that's what's making her tired.' They would put IVs in me. But it just wasn't enough."

Eventually, Barrino realised something more serious was wrong and she called on the advice of a top throat doctor in Los Angeles, who put a camera down her throat and discovered she had what he thought was a cyst.

The singer recalls, "I went into surgery and he (doctor) came out and told my mother it was a tumour."

Now healthy again, Barrino is still frustrated about all the negative publicity she received for pulling out of shows.

She adds, "It really hurt my feelings... I told my manager, `Please, somebody protect me,' because I've never missed a show... I like to perform.

"I felt like, after I had my surgery, nobody knew about it. The Color Purple didn't know about it, my record company didn't know about it, and I was very hurt that... I wasn't receiving any flowers, any balloons."

Source: WENN