Source: Courtesy / Netflix / Jamie Foxx
Telling his story on his terms, Jamie Foxx revealed to the world and his fans in his new Netflix comedy special Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was what exactly was the medical emergency that almost took his life in 2023.
Screaming “I’m back!” while dancing and exciting the crowd, the talented multihyphenate revealed that doctors at the Piedmont Hospital just 400 yards away from the Atlanta theater saved his life.
Before he revealed the answer to the burning question, what was the “mystery illness” that almost ended his story? Foxx said while fighting tears, “Please, Lord, let me get through this.”
Jame Foxx’s Sister’s Decision To Take Him To The Hospital Saved His Life
As he promised, he told his story, but using comedy, revealing to the crowd, “April 11, I had a bad headache, and I asked my boy for Aspirin. I realized quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f*** to do.”
He revealed that before he could even swallow the Aspirin, he was unconscious for weeks, even joking about some lackluster care he received from one doctor before he got to the root of the issue.
“I don’t remember 20 days,” Foxx told the crowd. His friends told him that one doctor they took him to gave him a cortisone shot and sent him on his way. “What the fuck is that?” Foxx joked. “I don’t know if you can do Yelps for doctors, but that’s half a star.”
But his sister, Deidra Dixon, knew her brother was in serious trouble. “She says, ‘Get him in the car. That ain’t my brother right there,’” Foxx revealed. “She drove around — she didn’t know anything about Piedmont Hospital, but she had a hunch that some angels [were] in there.”
At the hospital, doctors told Dixon her brother was “having a brain bleed that has led to a stroke,” and had they not caught it sooner, he would have died. “My sister knelt down outside the operating room and prayed the whole time,” Foxx continued.
He claims it “was kind of oddly peaceful,” speaking of being unconscious and adding, “I saw the tunnel. I didn’t see the light.” Foxx then joked, “It was hot in that tunnel. Shit, am I going to the wrong place in this motherfucker? Because I looked at the end of the tunnel, and I thought I saw the Devil like, ‘C’mon.’ Or is that Puffy [Sean Combs]?”
Jamie Foxx Couldn’t Walk
Following his surgery, the doctor told Dixon he “may be able to make a full recovery, but it’s going to be the worst year of his life.” Foxx concurred: “That’s what it was.”
It was after that Dixon and his daughter Corinne Marie Foxx decided it was time to “cut it all off,” keeping all information from hitting the internet. “They didn’t want you to see me like that. And I didn’t want you to see me like that,” Foxx said while visibly choking up. “I want you to see me like this.”
When Foxx woke up at a Chicago rehabilitation center on May 4, he couldn’t understand why he was in a wheelchair and could not understand why he had a stroke because, as he puts it, “Jamie Foxx doesn’t have strokes.”
Foxx also shared an emotional story about his 14-year-old daughter sneaking into his room with her guitar to play songs for him, which helped his high vitals go down, also saving his life.
The comedian also did impressions of Katt Williams, Donald Trump, Denzel Washington, Dave Chappelle, Mike Tyson, and Jay-Z. He addressed conspiracy theories regarding him being a “clone” and made sure to remind folks he is a musical powerhouse as well.
Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was is now streaming on Netflix.
