Jamie Foxx opens up on his 'mystery illness' in his comedy special: 'I was fighting for my life'

Jamie Foxx. Pic/AFP

Jamie Foxx has now revealed facts about his six-month absence from the spotlight due to a health emergency in April 2023, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

At the time, Foxx was hospitalized for an undisclosed medical complication, with few details shared since to explain what happened to the Oscar-winning actor.

Foxx's Netflix comedy special, 'Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was...', has a greater bombshell than its title suggests. (He even received an early 2025 Golden Globe nomination for the special.) Foxx tells what occurred to him to the best of his recollection, using fun, music, and grim truths to be truthful about his treatment and rehabilitation process.

For the show, he returned to Atlanta, where he became ill while filming the Netflix comedy Back in Action, which also stars Cameron Diaz. He also discloses that Atlanta is where he began his comic career in 1991. So he's returning back to basics, describing how he saved his life from death as a "come-back-to-God" moment.

The special begins with videos of fans speculating about Foxx's illness. His daughter Corinne Foxx then takes the stage to thank the audience for coming. "This is a special moment for me and my family. It is a blessing to even be here," she says, before introducing her dad with a rousing, "Give it up for my dad, the real Jamie Motherfucking Foxx." The curtain rises and there is Foxx with shades on and hands in heart emojis over his chest expressing his love for the crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"You have no idea how good this feels," he said as he basked at the moment, shouting "Atlanta, I'm back" and dancing between tears. "I was fighting for my life, but I'm here in front of you." When he said, "Atlanta, saved my life," the crowd responded to his "God is good" and "all the time."

The exchange is a recognition of his Black, Southern roots and that he is right at home.

Foxx further shared, "we still don't know what happened to me" just over six minutes into the special. Recounting what happened to him on April 11, 2023, he said, "What had happened was..." and described how it all began with a severe headache.

"I don't remember 20 days," he said. His tale is sympathetic because the first doctor rejected his sickness. But his sister, Deidra Dixon, saw he wasn't himself and drove him around looking for hospitals until she chose to stop at Atlanta's Piedmont, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

There, a doctor wearing an L.A. Lakers jersey let her know that her big brother was having a "brain bleed" that led to a stroke and that he needed immediate surgery. Jamie Foxx shared how his sister helped him, "Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying" and he does just that as he alludes to dying and coming back.

What he describes is harrowing. The doctor told his sister that he may make a full recovery from the stroke, but it's going to be the "worst year of his life." He says that's why he disappeared from public view and credits his family for protecting him during his recovery. On May 4, he woke up and found himself in a wheelchair and had no idea why, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Accepting his situation was difficult, as he admits to first allowing his ego to impede his significant improvement throughout his stay in Chicago.. "That's old man stuff," he says of learning how dire his condition was. He depicts the hard road ahead, while at first joking about wanting to keep his "pickle" private from his female nurse before finding out she had already been bathing him for a month and a half, and crediting a superwoman named Holly for coaching him, Karate Kid-style, to find his will to fight.

He eventually saw a psychiatrist, which led to in-depth interactions with God. During that exchange, he stated it took him a minute to change his attitude and fight back. To do so, he used the only way he knew how to get well: humour.

"If I can stay funny, I can stay alive" became his mantra.

Leaning into his humour, he impersonates Denzel Washington, Dave Chappelle, Mike Tyson, Jay-Z and even President-elect Donald Trump. It's a unique blend of pop culture, old and new, to deliver a personal testimony of sickness and healing. Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was... is now streaming on Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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