10 December 2024, 15:11
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Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has opened up about the near-death health battle he suffered last year.
Speaking in his new Netflix comedy special, Foxx, 56, revealed he suffered a “brain bleed” in April 2023, which ultimately led to a stroke.
“We still don’t exactly know what happened to me,” he told fans as he described the “hell” he and his family went through.
Foxx addressed the circumstances of his condition for the first time in a Netflix comedy special Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… – which was released on Tuesday.
Arriving on stage, an emotional Fox said “you have no idea how good it feels, Atlanta.”
Foxx first noticed something was wrong when he suffered a “bad headache”, before he went to a doctor, where he received a “cortisone shot”, a steroid injection.
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Foxx says his sister Deidra Dixon “knew something was wrong” as he was lethargic, and took him to the hospital.
“She didn’t know anything about Piedmont Hospital, but she had a hunch that some angels were in there,” he added.
“Atlanta saved my life.”
Upon seeing a doctor Foxx was told he was suffering a bleed on his brain.
“You don’t dream that something would go wrong, but when something does go wrong, you need a sister,” Foxx added.
He says his sister was then told “if I don’t go in his head right now, we’re going to lose him”, and he was sent for surgery, and “my sister knelt down outside the operating room and prayed the whole time”.
“Your life doesn’t flash before your face,” Foxx added.
“It was kind of oddly peaceful, I say this all the time; ‘I saw the tunnel. I didn’t see the light. I was in that tunnel, though’. It was hot in that tunnel.
“Shit, am I going to the wrong place in this motherf*****?”
Despite undergoing surgery, doctors were unable to find the origin of the brain bleed.
Doctors told him that while he should recover he would face “the worst year of his life” doing so.
Foxx praised his family for protecting him from the public eye during his recovery, which at one point saw him struggle to walk.
“Twenty days I don’t remember, but on May 4 I woke up,” Foxx added.
“When I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair, I couldn’t walk.”
According to the Stroke Association, more than 88,000 people survive a stroke every year in the UK, but surviving a stroke is just the start of a “long and traumatic battle to finding their way back to life”.