Jamie Foxx’s Near-Death Experience: ‘I was gone for 20 days’

Jamie Foxx has finally broken his silence on what led to his mysterious hospitalization in April 2023.

The 56-year-old actor was hospitalized for an unspecified medical emergency in mid-April 2023, while filming the spy comedy Back in Action with Cameron Diaz – with the star later revealing he was left unable to walk and ‘saw the tunnel but not the light’ as he battled for survival. 

The star was filmed in Phoenix telling fans of his medical emergency, he ‘had a bad headache’ so he asked his ‘boy for Advil.’

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Foxx snapped his fingers and said: ‘I was gone for 20 days,’ and added he ‘does not remember anything.’

The Ray star said his sister and daughter took him to his ‘first doctor’ and said: ‘Next doctor said, “[There’s] something going on up there”‘ – pointing at his head.

Jamie Foxx has finally broken his silence on what led to his mysterious hospitalization in April 2023

The 56-year-old actor was hospitalized for an unspecified medical emergency in mid-April 2023, while filming the spy comedy Back in Action with Cameron Diaz – with the star later revealing he was left unable to walk  – pictured February 2023

He then said: ‘I won’t say it on camera.’

In December 2023 Foxx revealed he ‘saw the tunnel but not the light’ as he opened up about his near-death experience for his first public appearance since his shock health scare at the Critics Choice Association’s event.

The actor was visibly moved as he accepted the Vanguard Award in a 12 minute speech at the association’s Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements in Los Angeles.

Foxx admitted that he could not ‘walk’ six months earlier, via Deadline, though he refrained from revealing too many details about the medical crisis that put him in the hospital.

‘You know, it’s crazy, I couldn’t do that six months ago,’ he said after strutting across the stage to the microphone. ‘I couldn’t actually walk.’

‘I want to thanks everybody. I’ve been through something, I’ve been through some things,’ he said to thunderous applause.

‘I cherish every single minute now — it’s different,’ he continued. ‘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.

‘It was hot in that tunnel too, I don’t know where I was going. ‘S**t, am I going to the right place?’” 

In his 12-minute speech, he also made light of some of the baseless conspiracy theories that spread while he was hospitalized and then out of the public eye for several months. 

The star was filmed in Phoenix telling fans of his medical emergency, he ‘had a bad headache’ so he asked his ‘boy for Advil.’ Foxx snapped his fingers and said: ‘I was gone for 20 days,’ and added he ‘does not remember anything’

The Ray star said his sister and daughter took him to his ‘first doctor’ and said: ‘ Next doctor said, “[There’s] something going on up there”‘ – pointing at his head

‘I’m not a clone, I’m not a clone. I know a lot of people who was saying I was cloned out there.’

‘I have a new respect for life. I have a new respect for my art,’ he added toward the end of his speech.

Foxx also shared his praise and thanks for his family, including his sister and daughter, for how they had helped to care for him while he was recuperating. 

Foxx was given his award at the start of the show, but unlike the rest of the recipients, his honor was not announced ahead of time

He also told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I have a new respect for life, I have a new respect for my art. I watched so many movies and listened to so many songs trying to have the time go by.

‘Don’t give up on your art, man, don’t give up on your art. When you realize that it could be over like that… I got to tell you don’t give up on your art and don’t let them take the art from you either.”

Foxx initially returned to Instagram on May 3 to thank his followers with a text post. ‘Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed,’ he wrote at the time.

The actor is recovering from an illness that took him off the film set in April and away from filming Back in Action, in which he stars with Cameron Diaz – and recently delighted fans as he stepped out in public looking healthy and happy.

In July Foxx gave a detailed update on his recovery for the first time

A source told USWeekly: ‘Jamie is doing so much better and he’s starting to feel like himself again. He’s not 100 percent and is still taking things easy, but he’s definitely on the road to recovery.’

They added that Foxx ‘has a huge support system around him and his friends and family are making sure that he doesn’t take on too much.’

‘Foxx is feeling really good and is excited to get back to work once the time is right.’