Lil Wayne. (QMI AGENCY)

Rapper Lil Wayne was horrified by reports suggesting he was near death following a series of seizures last week, because he feared the news would upset his children.

The Lollipop hitmaker, real name Dwayne Carter, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on March 12 after collapsing on the set of Nicki Minaj's new video. He was released the following day, but was rushed back to the hospital hours later after a bodyguard found him lying unconscious in his room.

He was treated in the intensive care unit as rumours spiralled about his declining health. TMZ.com reported he had been placed in a medically-induced coma, and a priest had been called to read him his last rites.

His aides promptly dismissed claims the hip-hop star was on the verge of death, and Wayne appeared to take to his Twitter.com blog on Friday to reach out to fans, writing, "I'm good everybody. Thnx (thanks) for the prayers and love."

Now rapper Mack Maine, the president of Wayne's Young Money Entertainment label, has revealed the 30-year-old father-of-four was devastated to learn he was being prematurely killed off in the media.

Maine, who was among the aides denying the stories on Friday, tells MTV's RapFix Live show, "I was actually sitting right next to him (in hospital), honestly, when it happened, and his mum was in the other room, and his face dropped.

"She came in and she made light of it, she came in laughing, like, 'They're calling my damn phone, crazy, my battery just died...' and she laughed it off but his face kinda dropped like, 'They actually worrying my mum with this, they reporting that I'm getting read my final rites... (sic).'

"I just saw it in his face, like, 'I can't believe that.' He has four kids. Imagine his daughter hearing that somewhere at school or something like that, so he wasn't too happy about that."

Maine insists Wayne, who was discharged from hospital on Monday, is "blessed" and "in good spirits", and he has taken aim at gossip bloggers for spreading false reports about his ill health: "A lot of blogs and stuff put out some foolishness, but that wasn't true...

"We'd like to thank all the fans for the prayers. A lot of people reached out and showed love, but Wayne's at home, he's relaxing. He's actually been in good health for a minute (for a while). They (doctors) just wanted to run a few tests on him, that's why they kept him (in hospital) longer than expected, but he's been good."