Dancehall Artist Spice Shares Her Journey Through 7 Surgeries After a Life-Changing Health Scare

Spice.
Credit :

Spex Photography

NEED TO KNOW

• Spice spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about her health following a near-death experience in the Dominican Republic.
• The Grammy-nominated dancehall star discusses her strengthened faith, which inspired her new song “God Don’t Play About Me.”
• “Thanks be to God, my skin grew back to its normal form, and I didn’t have to do any skin grafting,” she expressed.

Queen of Dancehall, Spice, is reflecting on a harrowing experience that left her fighting for her life. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE on January 19, the 43-year-old Jamaican musician shared that her recently released gospel song, “God Don’t Play About Me,” was inspired by a serious health scare she faced while in the Dominican Republic in 2022.

Spice, whose real name is Grace Latoya Hamilton, was alone on the Caribbean island when she experienced a life-threatening intestinal issue. Surviving sepsis, she describes the incident as nothing short of a “miracle,” recalling how her sister rushed to her side during the crisis.

“One of my intestines opened up and sent my body into sepsis shock,” Spice recounted. “I had to do an emergency surgery to perform a hernia repair. They had to cut my body open from top down."

Spice.

Spex Photography

“The sepsis was attacking my lungs and my organs,” she continued. “My body was becoming poisonous.” While in the hospital, she reported that she could hear her sister playing Jekalyn Carr’s song, “You’re Bigger.” Today, Spice credits that gospel track for aiding her recovery from the life-threatening illness.

“I’ve always had a close relationship with God, and my near-death experience just brought me closer to Him,” she shared. “Even the doctors themselves were calling families to tell them to come say their goodbyes to me, so not even they could believe the miracle that happened.”

The reality star from Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta underwent a total of seven surgeries to stabilize her condition. The last procedure occurred in 2024, as doctors had to wait a few months between surgeries.

“There’s a timer on my phone that goes off when to pray,” she noted. “During the time of my procedures, the surgeons told me that my alarm kept going off.”

Spice with her son Nicholas and daughter Nicholatoy.

Spex Photography

The singer, who grew up in Portmore, Jamaica, but currently resides in Atlanta, chose to have her follow-up surgeries in the U.S. Upon reflection, she expressed surprise at her full recovery.

“Even the doctors said that things would have happened,” she commented. “But whatever they said, it didn’t happen. The sepsis ate my entire skin from my belly area. I’ve shared those images with my fans because I wanted them to see the goodness of God.”

After initially being told she required skin grafting, Spice shared, “Thanks be to God, my skin grew back to its normal form, and I didn’t have to do any skin grafting.”

Spice at the 2024 BET Awards.

Bennett Raglin/Getty

Spice elaborated that her new song serves not only as a reminder of her near-death experience but also signifies the significance of faith throughout her life.

“It brought me closer to God, and I have a more spiritual connection,” she said. “I read my Bible more, I worship more, I pray more. I’m more strict with how I show up when it comes to worshiping.”

“I want people to just wake up and praise God in their homes in the mornings,” she added regarding her song. “Every morning I get up, I play gospel—I’m a very old-school type of gospel girl, so this is why I chose this type of gospel where it’s just worshiping God.”

“I have a large platform and I want my fans to be able to get up and worship God,” she concluded. “Part of me wants to see them worshiping God the same way they would get up and sing any of my other songs.”