Actor Jamie Foxx credited God and the power of prayer for saving his life last year after he suffered a life-threatening stroke that landed him in the hospital, resulting in a long recovery journey.
In his Netflix comedy special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, the Django Unchained star revealed the for the first time that he had suffered “a brain bleed that led to a stroke.”
“God is good,” Foxx proclaimed in his special released on Tuesday, adding, “I’m glad to be here — a lot of people prayed to make sure I was here. Yes, and I appreciate every prayer.”
“It is a mystery. We still don’t know exactly what happened to me,” the actor continued. “All I can tell you is that I appreciate every prayer, because I needed every prayer.”
Through tears, Foxx went on to detail his experience, explaining, “What had happened was — April 11 [2023], I was having a bad headache, and I asked my boy for an aspirin. And I realized quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the fuck to do.”
“Before I could get the aspirin, I went out,” the Collateral star said. “I don’t remember 20 days.”
Foxx also credited his sister — who he said is “4-foot-11, full of nothing but love” — for driving him to the Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
“She didn’t know anything about Piedmont Hospital, but she had a hunch that some angels were in there,” Foxx said. “So they tell me my sister took me into the hospital, and this cool white boy, Dr. Schuette, they said he had on a Lakers jersey, just cool as shit.”
“He told my sister some horrible news,” the actor continued. “He said, ‘He’s having a brain bleed that has led to a stroke, and if I don’t go into his head right now, we’re going to lose him.’”
Foxx added that while he was in the operating room, “My sister knelt down outside the operating room and prayed the whole time.”
“Your life doesn’t flash before your face. It was kind of oddly peaceful,” Foxx said, adding that when Dr. Schuette later emerged from the operating room, he confirmed that the actor had suffered a stroke and informed his sister, “He may be able to make a full recovery, but it’s going to be the worst year of his life.”
Foxx revealed that he finally woke up on May 4 2023, “And when I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk.”
The Ray star explained that he was shocked to learn he had a stroke, as well as “angry” during his long recovery journey that included nurses needing to assist him with basic tasks, physical therapy, and being forced to see a therapist.
Foxx said he told his therapist, “I’m angry, I don’t know why this is happening to me.”
“And as I said that, I knew why this was happening to me. It was God,” Foxx added.
The actor then walked his audience through the conversation he had with God, in which he asked, “Why am I going through this? Is it a clerical error? Did Peter write down the wrong name?”
“He said, ‘No, this should be happened to you.’ I said, ‘Why? God, look at all these bad people down here, shouldn’t all these bad people be going through all this?’ And you know what He said? ‘Those bad people already belong to somebody else. You belong to me,’” Foxx said.
Foxx added that God told him, “Remember when you used to say grace before you ate your food? You belong to me. Remember when you played the piano for the church? When’s the last time you’ve been to church?”
“But I shot back: ‘God, I get it, I get it, but the crime don’t fit the punishment,’” Foxx quipped. “I’m serious, this is too much on me — I’m still making people laugh, I’m making them have fun. I said, ‘But look what this is doing to my family, God.’”
“I said, ‘Look what it’s doing to my kids.’ And you know what He said? ‘You see what they did to my kid. I have you two beautiful daughters. That was my only begotten son,’” the actor said.
“And finally, it came to me, it’s about blessings. God blessed me with this talent, He blessed me with all this money and this fame, and when I forgot about God, He blessed me with stroke,” Foxx said before breaking down in tears.
Foxx added, “When you think about as you grow older, you wonder about those hard times: ‘Who’s going to be there? Who’s actually going to be there?’ I don’t have to wonder that anymore.”
The actor explained that while he was in a coma, his vitals were bad and medical staff feared they would lose him — until his youngest daughter, Anelise, visited him in the hospital with her guitar and began playing music for him. That’s when his vitals miraculously began to improve.
“My vitals are so bad, they’re going to lose me. That’s when a miracle happened, and that miracle was working through my youngest daughter,” he said. “She’s 14 — I didn’t want her to see me like that, but she snuck into my hospital room with my guitar.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
