Jamie Foxx says mystery illness left him ‘gone for 20 days’

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Jamie Foxx is opening up for the first time about the medical emergency that sent him to the hospital last year.

The 56-year-old Academy Award winner was in Atlanta shooting his upcoming Netflix movie Back in Action with Cameron Diaz when he was stricken with an undisclosed “medical complication.”

“I asked my boy for an Advil,” Foxx said told a small group of people in Phoenix, before snapping his fingers in a clip posted to X. “I was gone for 20 days. I don’t remember anything. So, I’m in Atlanta, my sister and my daughter took me to the first doctor. He said nah, gave me a cortisone shot. Next doctor said, ‘Something’s going on up there,’” he continued, gesturing at his head.

But Foxx wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of his illness. “I won’t say it on camera,” he said.

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Foxx was hospitalized in April 2023 after suffering an undisclosed illness in Atlanta. His daughter, Corinne, said it was a “medical complication” and Foxx did not disclose the nature of his condition.

In an Instagram message, Corinne shared: “We wanted to share that my father Jamie Foxx experienced a medical complication yesterday. Luckily due to quick action and great care he is already on his way to recovery. We know how beloved he is and appreciate your prayers. The family asks for privacy during this time.” 

Last July, in his first public comments, Foxx promised he was on the road to recovery.

“I went to hell and back, and my road to recovery has some potholes as well, but I’m coming back,” Foxx, appearing thin and wearing a dark pullover shirt, said in the three-minute video posted to his Instagram. “I’m able to work.”

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“I went through something that I thought I would never, ever go through,” Foxx said, adding that he “didn’t want (fans) to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was going to make it through.”

The experience left him shaken, he continued.

“Every once in a while I just burst into tears … because it’s been tough, man, I was sick … but now I’ve got my legs under me so you’re going to see me,” Foxx said.

When he was being honoured by the African American Film Critics Association at its 7th Annual AAFCA Special Achievement Awards in March, Foxx joked about rumours that he had been replaced by “a clone.”

“I dove out of a car to save a Black woman’s purse and I’m taking a picture. That ain’t no damn Jamie. That’s a clone,” he quipped.

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Foxx also teased his plans to address his medical emergency in a comedy special.

“Everybody wants to know what happened, and I’m going to tell you what happened. But I’ve gotta do it in my way,” Foxx said. “I’m gonna do it in a funny way. We’re gonna be on the stage. We’re gonna get back to the standup sort of roots.”

Foxx jokingly revealed the special’s tentative name and went on to tell the audience to “cherish life” and the people closest to them.

“It’ll be called, ‘What Had Happened Was,’ and it’s got all the things that happened,” he remarked.

“I’m so thankful. And I just get emotional. Because it was really … it’s beyond the scope. Cherish life. I have some people in my life that really made sure I was here because it was dire straits.”

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