“I was gone for 20 days. I don’t remember anything.”
Jamie Foxx is shedding more light on the mysterious health scare that left him hospitalized in April 2023 and out of the public eye. Besides social media posts reassuring fans that he was on the mend, he has not spoken much about the experience until now.
In a newly posted TikTok video, Foxx revealed that he doesn’t remember much of what happened other than that it started with a “bad headache.” He then asked for an Advil, and before he knew it, he was out. “I was gone for 20 days. I don’t remember anything,” he told a group of bystanders in Phoenix, Arizona.
Though the actor didn’t specifically reveal what caused his hospitalization, he explained that he was in Atlanta at the time, and his sister and daughter took him to a doctor, who gave him a cortisone shot. He was then taken in again for a second opinion. “The next doctor said, ‘There’s something going on up there,” Foxx said, pointing to his head. “I won’t say it on camera.”
Amid these new details, here’s what else we know about Foxx’s medical emergency, which continues to stir speculation, and how fellow celebrities have rallied around him.
What else has Jamie Foxx said about his mystery illness?
In July, Foxx posted an emotional, three-minute video on Instagram addressing concerned fans. “I went to hell and back,” Foxx, 55, said in what marked his first substantial update. “My road to recovery had some potholes as well. But I’m coming back. And I’m able to work.”
Though he thanked fans in May for their support, Foxx said he decided to wait and speak out because he didn’t want people to see him “with tubes running out of me,” when he wasn’t sure if he would survive the harrowing ordeal.
“I went through something I thought I’d never ever, ever go through, and I know a lot of people were waiting and wanting to hear updates. But to be honest with you, I just didn’t want you to see me like that,” he said. “I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show.”
After sharing several recovery updates on social media, Foxx made his first major public appearance in December to accept the Vanguard Award at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino, and AAPI Achievements. He got emotional immediately as he began his remarks, saying he couldn’t “actually walk” six months ago.
“I cherish every single minute now — it’s different,” he said at the time. “I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy because it’s tough when it’s almost over … when you see the tunnel. I saw the tunnel — I didn’t see the light.”
Why was Jamie Foxx hospitalized?
There’s still no clear answer to this question. The actor was hospitalized for an undisclosed medical complication on April 11 while he was in Atlanta filming the upcoming Netflix comedy Back in Action. His daughter Corinne announced the news the next day, saying Foxx was already “on his way to recovery” at that point. A month later, she shot down reports that the family had been preparing for the worst and explained that Foxx had been “out of the hospital for weeks.”
In his other health updates shared on Instagram, Foxx thanked his daughter and his younger sister, Deidra Dixon, for their “protection” throughout his recovery. “I cannot tell you how great it feels to have your family kick in in such a way, and y’all know they kept it airtight; they didn’t let nothing out,” Foxx said. “They protected me. And that’s what I hope everyone could have in the moments like these.”
What do we know about Foxx’s mystery illness?
Foxx has remained vague about the exact cause of his hospitalization.
We do know that he was spotted in Chicago last April, where CNN reported that he underwent medical treatment at a facility specializing in rehabilitation care for patients with physical impairments and brain or spine injuries. During his time there, he made headlines for returning someone’s lost purse, which earned him the wholesome nickname “handbag hero.”
But he did try to set the record straight following some online rumors. In his Instagram video, Foxx pushed back against suggestions he had gone blind or was paralyzed by rolling his eyes and making a funny face. “By being quiet, sometimes things get out of hand,” he said.
How are fellow celebrities showing support?
Foxx has definitely felt the love of his fans and fellow costars alike.
“Awww Man!! Who’s cuttin’ onions?? Love U Foxx!! Your Light Is Needed ‘n Appreciated Right Now,” Will Smith, who worked with Foxx on the 2001 film Ali, commented on the actor’s video update.
Actress Glenn Close, who stars alongside Foxx on the film Back in Action, also chimed in, saying the last time she saw him was “a sunny day when you were laughing, throwing a football, graciously letting some extras take selfies with you.”
Dozens of other A-listers such as Jennifer Garner, Reese Witherspoon, Michael B. Jordan, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, and Justin Timberlake have also offered their well-wishes for Foxx.
This support hasn’t gone unnoticed by the actor. “I cannot even begin to tell you how far it took me and how it brought me back,” he said.
