Toni Braxton Stuns with Short Hair on 56th Birthday Following Heart Surgery More Than a Year Ago

• Toni Braxton posed in her "birthday suit" to celebrate her birthday this past weekend.
• "You look great," a fan commented on the singer's post.
• Braxton dropped hints of a new project.

For over 15 years, Toni Braxton has been batting lupus. The "As Long as I Live" singer was diagnosed with the most common form of lupus, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in 2008.

While the autoimmune disease has affected her career to an extent, she has not allowed the condition to squash her passion for music. Celebrating her 56th birthday this weekend, she shared a revealing snap on social media.

"In my birthday suit..." she captioned a photo of her in a black satin robe that covered just enough to meet the terms of service on Instagram. With her pixie hairdo looking stylish, a sizable stud sparkled from her ear.

"You look great," a fan wrote, "Happy birthday to one of the baddest R&B singers. You are living legend, Queen." Someone commented, "Toni, you look absolutely beautiful, Happy Birthday to you, and May God Bless you with many more!!!" One said:

"Looking so beautiful, Toni."

In May, she spoke about how "proud" she was of her age during an appearance on ABC News. She was on the broadcast to raise awareness for lupus and give an update after a health scare last year.

Those with lupus need to undergo regular testing to determine how it affects their organs. Last year, the star fell behind on her appointments. Eventually, on the doctor's insistence, she went for a test in the first week of September.

A specialized test found abnormalities in her heart. Had she not gone in for testing, she could have had a heart attack, from which, her doctors informed her, she would not have survived. She had emergency surgery and had a stent placed in her artery.

Braxton had felt an ache in her heart but assumed it was because she was mourning the recent passing of her sister. "It was a traumatic moment for me. I was in shock," she recounted.

The incident is part of the reason she partnered with Aurinia's Get Uncomfortable campaign as part of Lupus Awareness Month in May.

Toni Braxton Celebrates 30 Years in the Music Industry

After a brief hiatus in the mid-2010s, Braxton released her first new music in eight years, "Sex and Cigarettes," on March 23, 2018. She was happy to return to the road after being told she would never perform again.

The singer praised Selena Gomez, who also lives with lupus, for keeping up her touring schedule, "It's energy to sing! I don't know how she does it."

She was flattered when Burna Boy recently contacted her about sampling her 2000 hit "He Wasn't Man Enough" for his single "Last Last." It makes her feel great that her music is still "circulating and giving life" after all these years.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of Toni Braxton's debut album. She teased a new project but warned that it was only a single, as she had to take it slow.