Jamie Foxx almost died after 'bad headache' saw him lose the ability to walk
Topics: Health, Netflix, Jamie Foxx
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: Netflix/ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Health, Netflix, Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx has revealed what caused a near-death experience that saw him unable to remember anything for 20 days.
The actor suffered what was described as a 'medical complication' while filming upcoming Netflix action comedy Back in Action in Atlanta, US.
His daughter Corrine revealed he'd suffered the health episode via an Instagram statement in April 2023.
The finer details of his condition were kept private - until now.
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Filmed at The Alliance Theater in Georgia, just 400 yards away from the hospital he was treated in, Foxx has revealed all in his new hour-long Netflix special, aptly titled What Had Happened Was.
You can watch the trailer below:
An emotional Foxx recalled having a 'bad headache' on April 11 and asking 'my boy' for an aspirin.
"I realized quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f**k to do," he joked.
But before he could even take the tablet, Foxx passed out and says he can't remember anything for '20 days.'
Initially, he was taken to a doctor who gave him a cortisone shot and sent him on his way home.
But Foxx's little sister took him to Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta for further checks.
It's here he was given the chilling news he'd suffered a brain bleed that led to a stroke.
To this day, the cause of the brain bleed is still unknown. Foxx said: "It is a mystery. We still don't know exactly what happened to me. All I can tell you is that I appreciate every prayer because I needed every prayer."
The actor, 56, entered a coma and re-emerged in May 2023, wheel-chair bound and unable to walk.
It was touch and go for the first 15 days, with medics believing they could lose Foxx as his vitals were so high.
But the 'miracle' that kept him calm was his teenage daughter Anelise visiting hospital and playing him music on her guitar. This lowered his vitals.
His sister was told he could make a full recovery but warned it would be 'the worst year of his life.'
Foxx was eventually flown to Chicago for rehabilitation.
The rapper says he used comedy to cope with his health scare. "I lost everything, but the only thing I could hold onto was my sense of humor," Foxx explained.
"I couldn't necessarily walk that good, I couldn't talk that good, but I didn't let go of my funny... I was always crackin' jokes, to the point where the nurses thought I was really losing my mind."