Culture

Drag Race legend Chi Chi DeVayne asks for prayers after being readmitted to hospital amid ongoing health battle

Chi Chi DeVayne with a feeding tube in her nose / Chi Chi in full drag

Chi Chi DeVayne has shared that she is back in hospital. (Instagram/YouTube)

Chi Chi DeVayne has been hospitalised for the second time in as many months after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

The Drag Race star — real name Zavion Davenport — asked fans to keep her in their prayers in a video taken from her hospital bed Sunday (August 16).

Earlier in the week, Chi Chi had shared with fans that she was “battling pneumonia”, just weeks after she was admitted to hospital with suspected kidney failure.

She was discharged July 24 after undergoing dialysis, and appeared in good spirits as she told followers: “I’m gonna fight to survive of course but I’ve been fighting too mentally, because this is a new experience for me. But I got it under control. I’m OK, I’m gonna be OK.”

The star lives with scleroderma, a rare condition caused by the immune system attacking the tissue under the skin, and around internal organs and blood vessels.

This can cause scarring and thickening of the tissue in these areas, and in some cases can be life-threatening.

Drag Race queens rally around Chi Chi DeVayne.

Chi Chi DeVayne’s latest health setback prompted an outpouring of love and support from the Drag Race sisterhood.

Bob the Drag Queen was one of many to share ways in which fans can support Chi Chi financially, urging: “Please help this angel when she’s out of the hospital.”

Kennedy Davenport sent “positive energy, love and light”, asking fans to “say a prayer for my baby girl”, while Brooke Lynn Hytes and Delta Work both pledged to raise money for Chi Chi by recording personalised Cameo videos, with all money going directly to the ill star.

View this post on Instagram

???❤️ Hey friends! ❤️??? All hands on deck! Our friend and drag race royalty @chichidevayneofficial has had a few medical setbacks and could use some financial rallying. ❤️❤️❤️ At this time we are working with how we can support a friend and fellow entertainer. Please consider sending money directly to #chichidevayne through the electronic payment addresses listed or book a personalized video from me via @cameo for yourself or to anyone you like and ALL PROCEEDS from this week’s booked videos will go directly to Chi Chi. Any and all support and kind wishes are greatly appreciated. Please consider booking the video via the Cameo website so a larger portion of the proceeds can be sent. A request on the app will only deliver 50% of the fee and the booking on the website will send 80%. Please do not ask about the specifics of the health concerns as it is not our place to discuss what we don’t know but offer help in ways that we can. Stay safe. Give and receive love. ❤️

A post shared by Delta Work (@deltawork) on

 

Chi Chi DeVayne opened up about her health in 2018, revealing that she’d hidden her scleroderma diagnosis for the best part of a year because she was afraid of “losing out on jobs and facing criticism from friends and fans”.

“Bottling this up has had me in a state of depression … it has made me hate my appearance … and also made me stray away from the public eye but I’m no longer hiding and living in a state of fear … I just ask you all to keep me in your prayers as I battle with this life changing illness,” she said at the time.

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