Lifestyle Health Celebrity Health Kelly Clarkson Undergoes Surgery to Remove Her Appendix Hours After Hosting Billboard Music Awards Clarkson, who had been suffering from stomach pain all week, had the procedure on Thursday morning By Joelle Goldstein Joelle Goldstein Joelle Goldstein is a Senior News Editor on the TV team for PEOPLE Digital. She has been with the brand since 2017, working as an intern, digital news writer and Human Interest writer-reporter before joining the TV team to help oversee and edit digital coverage. Her work has previously appeared in The Hollywood Reporter. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 2, 2019 08:30PM EDT For Kelly Clarkson, the show must — and did — go on! Hours after hosting the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas for the second consecutive year, Clarkson cut her celebrations short and underwent an appendectomy. The “Broken & Beautiful” singer, 37, confirmed the news in a tweet on Thursday, explaining that she had “broken down in tears after the show from pain” and immediately flew back home once the awards show wrapped on Wednesday night. Clarkson also shared that she had the surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles first thing on Thursday morning and is now “feeling awesome” as she recovers. “Not gonna lie…. I may or may not have broken down in tears after the show from pain BUT thanks 2 all the amazing people @ Cedars-Sinai I flew home directly after the event, nailed the surgery early this morning, & feeling awesome now!” she wrote. “Bye bye appendix #TheShowMustGoOn” Clarkson happily added. The surgery did not appear to be an emergency procedure, as Clarkson had been experiencing intense appendicitis pain for the last week, Entertainment Tonight reports. Similar to her BBMAs hosting gig, Clarkson likely won’t be down for long, as she intends on returning to The Voice in just a few days for Monday’s live show, according to the outlet. A representative for Clarkson did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. Frazer Harrison/Getty Billboard Music Awards Host Kelly Clarkson Pokes Fun at ACM Awards Seat Filler Mishap as She Performs Epic Medley Despite feeling under the weather on Wednesday, Clarkson didn’t let her stomach pain get in the way of hosting and performing two musical numbers at the annual awards. The American Idol alum opened the show by belting out a medley of songs nominated at this year’s show, including Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You,” Maren Morris and Zedd‘s “The Middle,” Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin’s collab “I Like It” and more. She also used her opening monologue to poke fun at herself after she was recently mistaken for a seat filler at the Academy of Country Music Awards in early April. As the singer sat next to Terry Crews in the audience of the show, a security guard (played by Rob Gronkowski) asked her to move so that Florida Georgia Line‘s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard could have the seats. At the end of the performance, Clarkson asked Paula Abdul — who was a judge on the inaugural season of Idol that Clarkson won — to back her up, but it was to no avail. In response, Clarkson said, “You discovered me!” Kelly Clarkson and Paula Abdul. Ethan Miller/Getty Kelly Clarkson Reveals Which ‘Handsome’ Game of ThronesActor Made Her Starstruck Later in the evening, the singer performed her latest hit “Broken & Beautiful”, switching from her black gown into a one-shoulder pink dress with a belt around her waist. Ahead of hosting the awards, Clarkson told PEOPLE that she credits Idol for making her comfortable with doing hosting gigs like this. “Because my whole career started on live, national television, I think I have an odd sense of being comfortable in that environment,” she said, before jokingly adding, “That probably says something psychologically about me, but I think because of how I came in the industry nothing really throws me, generally. I should really knock on some wood.” Between hosting the BBMAs, coaching her team on The Voice, preparing to host her new talk show premiering on NBC in September, and now, recovering from her appendix surgery, it’s going to be a busy next few months for Clarkson. Kevin Winter/Getty Luckily, though, the singer told PEOPLE that she’ll get some time off to spend with her family in June and July. “My family and my husband’s family are all getting together and staying on this ranch and hanging out,” she said ahead of the BBMAs. “I don’t take a break unless I’m removed from my dwelling. I will find things to do in my house all day and night. I kind of have to remove myself, but we’re taking a little break because we haven’t had one.” Clarkson and her husband Brandon Blackstock, 42, recently made Los Angeles their home base due to work commitments. They share daughter River Rose, 4, and son Remington Alexander, 3. Blackstock also has two children — daughter, Savannah, 17, and son, Seth, 12 — from a previous marriage.