Jamie Foxx.
Parrish Lewis/NetflixJamie Foxx broke his silence during his new Netflix comedy special about what led to his mysterious health scare — and how he’s coping now.
Fox, 56, talked about his previous hospitalization during the Jamie Foxx: What had happened waswhich premiered on Tuesday, December 10. Fox revealed that he had a brain hemorrhage that led to a stroke after suffering a severe headache in April 2023.
The special was originally shot in October — nearly two years after Foxx suffered a medical complication during filming Back in action in Atlanta. His eldest daughter, Corinne Foxrevealed at the time that “thanks to quick action and great care” her father was “now on the road to recovery”. (Jamie shares Corrine with ex Connie Klein. He also shares daughter Annelise, 15, with his ex Christine Grannis.)
A very talented star! Jamie Foxx got his start in sketch comedy before becoming an Oscar-winning actor. Fox began playing the piano at an early age, then played and directed the choir at New Hope Baptist Church in his hometown of Terrell, Texas. As a teenager, he excelled in basketball and football before choosing (…)
Jamie has remained largely suppressed about the specifics of his health scare since then. In July 2023 the actor made a rare statement to clear up some of the rumors surrounding his condition.
“You know, by being silent, sometimes things get out of control, people say what I have (and) some people said I’m blind, but as you can see the eyes are working. Eyes are working fine!” he said in an Instagram video. “They said I was paralyzed, I’m not paralyzed, but I’ve been to hell and back, and my road to recovery has also been bumpy. I come back and I can work.”
Jamie said he “went through something” he thinks he would “never ever” pass.
“I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, joking, doing a movie, a TV show. I didn’t want you to see me with tubes leaking out of me trying to figure out if I was going to make it,” he continued. “I can’t tell you how great it is to have your family involved like that and you all know they kept it tight, they didn’t let anything go, they protected me and that’s what I hope everyone can have in times like these.”
Earlier this year, Jamie returned to the set his and Cameron Diazthe upcoming Netflix movie. He was also able to send Corinne to the aisle in September during her wedding with Joe Hooten. Jamie returned to the stage a month later for his first stand-up show since being released from hospital.
Jamie told the audience at the time that his “heart and my soul are filled with nothing but pure joy” after filming the Netflix special, which he teased would give him “an opportunity to tell my side of the story.”
Keep scrolling for the biggest takeaways from the special:
What Indeed It happened
“We still don’t know what happened to me,” Fox said during the special, describing how he experienced a severe headache on April 11, 2023. He asked a friend for some aspirin, but “Before I could get the aspirin, it came out.”
“I don’t remember 20 days. What they told me was that they took me to the first doctor and that first doctor gave me a cortisone shot and sent me home,” he continued. “What the hell is this? I don’t know if you can do Yelps for doctors, but it’s half a star, n—a,” he joked.
His sister sought a second opinion
Fox shared how his younger sister, Deidra Dixonwhom he described as “4ft 11 of nothing but love”, did not accept the first doctor’s treatment. “She says, ‘Get him in the car.’ That’s not my brother right there,'” Fox recalled, explaining that his sister eventually drove him to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.
At the hospital, a doctor told the Oscar winner’s sister, “He’s had a brain hemorrhage that’s caused a stroke.” Fox said, “He said, ‘If I don’t get into his head right now, we’re going to lose him.’
“They took me in for surgery and my sister came down outside the operating room and was praying the whole time,” he continued, joking that he doesn’t “see the light” but “sees the tunnel.” He added: “It was hot in the tunnel. (I thought) “W–t, am I going to the wrong place in this mother?”
Fox reveals that he suffered a stroke
After operating on the brain hemorrhage, the doctor told Fox’s sister that he had suffered a stroke. “He might make a full recovery, but it’s going to be the worst year of his life,” Fox’s sister’s doctor said.
“That’s right, Atlanta. You finally got the story,” Fox said, overcome with emotion.
How his daughter helped his recovery
“My vital signs were so bad they thought they were going to lose me,” Fox said of the first 15 days after the ER. “Then a miracle happened and that miracle worked on my youngest daughter,” he added, referring to Anneliese, 15.
“I didn’t want her to see me like that. She snuck into my hospital room with her guitar and said, ‘I know what my dad needs,'” Fox recalled, saying that while his daughter was playing guitar, his vital signs stabilized. He then introduced Anelise on stage to play her guitar.
Why did it disappear from the public eye?
Fox praised his sister and daughter, Corinne, 30, for taking action after his stroke. “They kept the hell out of me. “No one sees him!” They cut everything,” he said. “They didn’t want you to see me like that and I didn’t want you to see me like that. There is another reason my daughter doesn’t want anyone to see me. I was dizzy from the stroke. I was so dizzy that my head would (shake). She said, “They’re going to make a meme out of this shit.”
His recovery
Fox detailed how he woke up from his coma after 20 days and found himself in a wheelchair. At first, he struggled to accept the fact that he had suffered a stroke. “I said, ‘That’s an old man, shit.’ I don’t get hit. Stop that fucking joke,’” he recalled.
“They flew me to Chicago for my rehab,” he continued. “Every therapist that came in I said, ‘Screw it.’ I gave up.”
Eventually, a physical therapist named Holly gave him a hard time and got him into rehab.
Atlanta saved his life…
As he took the stage at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, Fox said, “Just 400 yards from here, at Piedmont Hospital, they put me back together. To God be the glory.”
But the internet tried to kill him
“They said I was paralyzed. He said I can’t walk. But look at me now,” he quipped, dancing to Unk’s “Walk It Out.”
Without missing a beat, Fox jokes about recent allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs – especially his alleged “wacky” parties.
“The internet said Puffy tried to kill me. That’s what the internet was saying. “I know what you’re thinking: ‘Is he?'” Fox quipped. “Hell no, na. I left their parties early. I was out by 9, na. “Something doesn’t seem right, na. It’s slippery here, isn’t it.
Later, describing how he couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel while in a coma, he joked that he saw Diddy at the end. “I thought I saw the devil. Or was that Puffy?” he joked. “I walk around. But if it was Puffy, he had a flaming bottle of Johnson & (baby oil).”
