I wasn’t even aware that Grammy Award winner Toni Braxton is a survivor of heart disease. She is helping kick off National Heart Month and Toni is uniquely qualified to become involved, indeed.

“I am here because I’m the spokesperson this year for the American Heart Association,” Braxton, 40, said Thursday at Woman’s Day Presents the 5th Annual “The Red Dress Awards” inside Manhattan’s Time Warner Center, “and because I’m a survivor.”

Despite appearing to be in great shape, “I have heart disease, and I found out about five or four years ago,” said Braxton, who was appearing in Broadway’s Aida at the time she saw the doctor – and was under the impression she felt the way she did simply because she was exhausted.

She found out she had pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart. “And,” she said, “I’ve also been diagnosed with hypertension.”

Of course, the news came as a shock. “I was disappointed. I didn’t get it,” she remembers reacting. But she did spring into action. “I had to make lifestyle and diet changes.”

Now, she says, “I eat relatively well, but sometimes having those pizzas and burgers late at night – I had to change that.”