Jamie Foxx has been open about his near-death experience related to the 2023 stroke he had.
And now, nearly two years after the critical health emergency, the actor and singer is opening up about the eerie conversation he had just before almost facing death.
‘You know what’s crazy? Before it happened, I was talking to my people that handle my stuff [and they asked], “Jamie, wanna go over some papers just in case something happens?”‘ Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop), 57, told People, while promoting the documentary Number One On The Call Sheet.
He would respond by asking his team, ‘What’s gonna happen to me?’ and then shortly after he suffered a brain bleed that led to the stoke.
‘Boom! Gone,’ Foxx said about going unconscious and eventually slipping into a coma that would last for weeks.
The harrowing crisis began when he was in Atlanta, Georgia shooting the action comedy film Back In Action with Cameron Diaz and Glenn Close in April 2023.
Jamie Foxx, 57, is sharing intimate details about the conversation he had with ‘my people’ right before suffering a brain bleed that led to the stoke; he is seen in January 2025
When describing what he remembers of his time near death’s door, the Terrell, Texas native confessed he thought the experience was much different from how he always imagined he’d go out.
He then likened it to a certain scene from the action-crime film Colors (1998) that starred Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, María Conchita Alonso and Don Cheadle.
‘I used to watch the movie Colors, when they had a shootout,’ the Oscar winner explained. ‘I thought I was gonna go out like like Rocket [Cheadle], like go out in a shootout in the mall or something. I didn’t think I was just gonna go out asking for an aspirin.’
In December 2023, more than seven months after his stroke and coma, Foxx disclosed that he couldn’t walk when he began his rehabilitation while accepting a Critics Choice Association’s Vanguard Award.
He would go onto reveal that he couldn’t remember the 20 days that followed the initial health crisis.
But the Django Unchained star does recall all the support he received once he was out of the coma and on the road to recovery.
‘When it happened, the amount of love that was poured, the amount of people that reached out, really meant something,’ Foxx shared, before disclosing his mindset after realizing he was alive and conscious.
‘When I was talking to [God], he said, “Hey man, I’m gonna give you the second chance — what you gonna do with it?”‘
Foxx’s team asked to talk to him about handling some papers in case something happened, He responded, ‘What’s gonna happen to me?’ right before he suffered a brain bleed and stoke
The Oscar winner went into a coma for several weeks, which he shared about in his standup comedy special What Had Happened Was …, which premiere on Netflix in December 2024
The Django Unchained star would go onto reveal that he couldn’t remember the 20 days that followed his near-death experience; he is pictured during Netflix special
In the moment Foxx said to himself: ‘I’m gonna put more smiles on people’s faces and I’m gonna do everything I can to.’
Due to his hospitalization, he missed the last couple weeks of the shoot for Back In Action, but the studio and director, Seth Gordon, decided to use body doubles for his remaining scenes.
The Ray actor would eventually channel that thought process of sharing his near-death story, and the promise to put more smiles on faces, by creating his standup comedy special – What Had Happened Was …, which ultimately premiered on Netflix this past December.
Since he suffered his health emergency with two weeks left in the shoot for the film Back In Action with Cameron Diaz, director Seth Gordon used body doubles for his remaining scenes
It was originally set to premiere on the streaming giant on November 15, 2024, but that date ended up being pushed back to January 17, 2025.
Looking to the future, Foxx has said he has some new jokes to tell so he intends on going back out on the road to tell them.
Plus, he has three new films in some form of post-production: All-Star Weekend and Tin Soldier, for which he stars, along with Geechee, where he only serves as a producer.
His other producing project, Number One On The Call Sheet, is set to drop on Apple TV+ on March 28.
Leave a Reply