Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has opened up about the brain bleed he suffered last year which led to a stroke.
The actor revealed in a new Netflix show – Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… – he does not remember “20 days” during the medical emergency.
Foxx was filming Back in Action with Cameron Diaz in April 2023 when he experienced a “bad headache”.
“It is a mystery,” he said. “We still don’t know exactly what happened to me.”
“April 11, I was having a bad headache and I asked my boy for an aspirin. And I realised quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f**k to do,” he said.
“Before I could get the aspirin I went out,” he said. “I don’t remember 20 days.”
Foxx thanked his sister, who he said was “4 foot 11 of nothing but pure love,” for driving him around Atlanta to find a hospital.
“You don’t dream that something would go wrong, but when something does go wrong, you need a sister,” Foxx added.
They ended up at Piedmont Hospital, where a doctor told them Foxx was having a brain bleed that had led to a stroke and that he would die without an operation, the actor said.
“Your life doesn’t flash before your face […] It was kind of oddly peaceful,” Foxx reflected.
After the operation, doctors said that Foxx might make a full recovery “but it’s going to be the worst year of his life,” Foxx recounted.
In July 2023, Foxx posted an Instagram video update in which he addressed the speculation about what led to his hospitalization, although he did not reveal details of what happened.
“I know a lot of people were waiting or wanting to hear updates but to be honest with you, I just didn’t want you to see me like that, man,” he said in the video.
“I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show. I didn’t want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was gonna make it through.”
In the special, Foxx is candid about his ordeal, joking about trying to keep his “pickle” private from nurses taking care of him, as well as expressing gratitude for the doctors who took care of him.
The Netflix special begins with his daughter, Corinne Foxx, welcoming her father to the stage, and saying: “This is a special moment for me and my family. It is a blessing to even be here.”
Also during the programme, Foxx says that he explained how he had difficulties coming to terms with his condition, and he was “down in the dumps” at one point.
He says that seeing a psychiatrist helped him, which also allowed him to rediscover his relationship with God.
“If I can stay funny, I can stay alive,” he added.
The Netflix special What Had Happened Was … is now on Netflix, having already picked up an early 2025 Golden Globe nomination for best performance in stand-up comedy on television.
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