Jamie Foxx (C) and Datari Turner (R) attend the Jamie Foxx Strong Black Legends Dinner // What Had Happened Was… at Mr. Chow on December 10, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Jerod Harris / Getty
Jamie Foxx is finally opening up about the health scare that left him hospitalized and out of the public eye for months in the spring of 2023.
In his new Netflix stand-up special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, Foxx revealed that in April 2023, he suffered a brain bleed that led to a stroke and his life-threatening ordeal almost went ignored by doctors.
On April 11, 2023 while shooting his upcoming film, Back in Action, Foxx experienced a “bad headache,” so searingly painful that he lost consciousness before he could take the aspirin a friend gave him. He was taken to the doctor who gave the star a shot of cortisol and sent him on his way. But Foxx’s younger sister, Diedra Dixon, who was with him at the time, knew something more serious was going on.
Dixon drove “aimlessly” around Atlanta looking for a second opinion and took Foxx to Piedmont Hospital where doctors informed her that the Oscar-winning actor had suffered a brain bleed that led to a stroke and required immediate operation.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a brain bleed — formally known as an intracranial hemorrhage — “is a collection of blood within the skull. The blood may collect in the brain tissue or underneath the skull, pressing on the brain. It’s usually caused by a blood vessel that bursts in the brain. It also may be caused by a head injury due to a car accident or fall.”
The Mayo Clinic describes a brain bleed as “potentially life-threatening” and “usually requires immediate treatment.”
The condition is typically brought on following a head injury, particularly for “an older adult” like Foxx, who turns 57 on Friday.
“He may be able to make a full recovery, but he’s gonna have the worst year of his life,” Foxx said the physician told his sister about his chances.
Foxx regained consciousness 20 days later with no memory of what had occurred but months of painful recovery ahead of him. He was wheelchair bound and unable to walk or talk. He would go on to endure months of physical therapy to regain his physical and cognitive abilities while his fans waited and speculated about what could possibly have happened to one of Hollywood’s brightest stars.
“The only thing I could hold on to was my sense of humor,” Foxx said about his recovery time. “I couldn’t necessarily walk that good. I couldn’t talk that good. But I didn’t let go of my funny. I said, ‘If I can stay funny, I can stay alive.’”
Despite his bright sense of humor, throughout the special, Foxx repeatedly gets emotional and teary- eyed while recalling the medical emergency that almost took his life last spring. He credits his sister for saving him and advocating for his health.
“When you dream about what you want to be in life, you don’t dream tragedy. But when something does go wrong, you need a sister,” Foxx told the audience.
The pain and suffering of Black patients is routinely ignored in hospitals and doctor’s offices. A Harvard study found that physicians are twice as likely to underestimate the pain of Black patients. Even celebrities like Foxx aren’t immune from medical racial bias. Tennis star and Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams experienced nearly fatal blood clotting following the birth of her daughter Olympia, and she, too, was dismissed by doctors and nurses who thought she must be confused about her own body.
Stories like Foxx’s emphasize how important it is for Black patients to advocate for their needs and their experiences when visiting the doctor. It could mean the difference between life and death. African Americans are 50% more likely to experience a stroke than white adults and 45% more likely to die from a stroke. Knowing what our bodies are going through and knowing how to advocate for our bodies to doctors, nurses, and surgeons. Just like in Foxx’s case, one more conversation could make all the difference.
It’s up to us to make sure that we give our bodies a fighting chance because our health is a blessing. Foxx said during his special that he thinks his stroke was a message to take God’s blessings more seriously. He reflected on how his faith helped him make it through his medical crisis while sitting at a piano and leading the audience through the refrain: “God is good. All the time.”
SEE ALSO:
Op-Ed: Why Jamie Foxx Should Not Have Apologized
Jamie Foxx Says, ‘I Went To Hell and Back’ In First Video Since Undisclosed Medical Incident
