Sean Kingston sat down with MTV News on Tuesday night (August 2) and opened up for the first time about the jet-ski accident that landed him in the hospital. During "MTV First: Sean Kingston," the singer spoke candidly with Sway Calloway at his house in Miami about the day that changed his life forever, letting fans know that months after his jet ski crashed into a bridge near his home in Florida, he's now back and better than ever.
"I'm doing good. I'm feeling great. I'm excited. I'm happy," he said. "A lot of people don't know it was a deeper situation. I had open heart surgery and I had two other surgeries; it was a life-or-death situation."
Kingston — the Jamaican-American singer who broke onto the scene with the "Stand by Me"-sampling song "Beautiful Girls" and scored another hit with the Justin Bieber collabo "Eenie Meenie" last year — was rushed to the hospital May 29 after a jet-ski crash. He explained to Sway that he was going about 35 miles an hour when he miscalculated how high the tide had risen and collided with a bridge.
The singer revealed for the first time in the sit-down that just as he was being released from the hospital for injuries related to the crash, he was rushed into surgery to deal with a newly discovered heart condition. "They were gonna send me home, but then I had felt a pain in my left chest, and I told my mom," he explained. "They rushed me and they did a lot of scans on me, [and] they said I couldn't leave."
It was discovered that blood had filled up in his chest and his aorta was torn. He went into surgery several times to fix the condition, knowing that the risks were high, but he survived, and now he's focused on the positive. "I'm 100 percent right now," he said. "I've been in the house chilling, about to start work on my new album. I got L.A. Reid now as my new president. I got a story to tell now."
Kingston isn't taking his new lease on life lightly. "What the accident basically taught me is, in life, you have to count your blessings," he said. "You just got to keep God present at all times and think about the consequences."
During the chat, Kingston opened up about the details of the accident, talked about the support he's received from celebrity pals like Justin Bieber and Chris Brown, his new music and finally getting the chance to meet the man who saved him after he crashed. MTV News will be rolling out more from the interview with Kingston, who thanked his fans for all their support after the accident.
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