Jamie Foxx thanks fans for hearing ‘testimony’ about his stroke in stand-up special
Jamie Foxx is finally telling the whole story about his hospitalization last year in the language he knows best: comedy.
In his new stand-up special released Tuesday, the Oscar winner revealed that he suffered a stroke in April 2023. At that time, Foxx’s family had released a since-deleted statement that he was receiving care for an undisclosed “medical complication.”
While Foxx continued to share updates on his recovery, he declined in March to tell the full story until he could do so “in a funny way,” Variety reported.
He made good on that promise with arrival of his Netflix stand-up special “What Had Happened Was.”
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On Monday before the special’s release, Foxx in an Instagram video thanked the attendees of the live show filmed in Atlanta. He said the crowd made him feel as though he hadn’t “lost a step” despite a long hiatus from performing.
He gave additional shout-outs to Netflix for platforming his “testimony” and to the Golden Globes for his nomination for “What Had Happened Was.”
Later in his Instagram video, Foxx said that rather than punchlines in his set, “the main thing is my story.”
“I hope you laugh at some of the jokes, but most of all, I hope you are inspired by the journey,” he said, encouraging viewers to “cry if you need to.”
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During the 68-minute show, Foxx recounts his months-long health journey — beginning with the April evening when a “bad headache” turned much graver.
“I asked my boy for a aspirin,” he recalled, “and I realized quickly that when you in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f— to do.
“Before I could get the aspirin,” he continued, pausing to snap his fingers, “I went out. I don’t remember 20 days.”
With the help of friends and family, Foxx said he pieced together an account of what happened immediately after. The first doctor to see him administered a cortisone shot and sent him off with “half-star service,” he quipped.
But his younger sister Deidra Dixon, whom he called “4 foot of nothing but pure love,” wasn’t satisfied. So she drove until she came upon Atlanta’s Piedmont Hospital. She had never heard of the facility before, Foxx said, “but she had a hunch that some angels is in there.”
That doctor said Foxx had a brain bleed that had led to a stroke, the comedian said, and his sister continually prayed during his entire operation.
“They put me back together again,” Foxx said. “Atlanta saved my life.”
When he finally woke up one morning in May 2023, “The Jamie Foxx Show” star said he was startled to find himself in a wheelchair and stubbornly insisted on attempting to walk. Dramatically reenacting the scene in the special, Foxx’s legs tremble, his eyes wide. In the end, he said he admitted defeat.
Throughout the special, the “Just Mercy” actor also joked about his daughter Corinne’s fears that he would be “memed” for his condition, adding that being bathed by his nurse was more scarring than the stroke itself.
“You have no idea how good this feels,” Foxx told the Atlanta crowd as he opened his set. “If I dance all night, don’t mind me. I’m happy to be alive.”
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Corinne Foxx first announced in April 2023 that Foxx was being treated for a medical emergency. In response to her since-deleted announcement, speculation arose about the details of the emergency. Corinne later slammed such rumors, lamenting “how the media runs wild” and adding that her dad had “been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating.”
The revelation about Foxx’s stroke did not come until “What Had Happened Was.” Before Tuesday, the actor had spoken publicly about the medical emergency without details. He has also regularly updated fans on social media about his health and well-being.
Meanwhile, “Back in Action,” Foxx’s action movie with Cameron Diaz, will be released in theaters Jan. 17.
Filming for the movie was delayed upon Foxx’s April 2023 hospitalization. In January, Page Six published photos of the co-stars seemingly on set, though it is unclear if Foxx still had scenes to shoot.
Times staffers Nardine Saad and Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
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