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Jamie Foxx Uses Funny To Beat Death

Foxx revealed how humor helped him recover after a stroke nearly two years ago.

Photo Credit: Axelle, Bauer-Griffin, Getty Images

Jamie Foxx recently shared how humor helped him recover from a life-threatening stroke he suffered nearly two years ago.

The actor and comedian opened up about the experience while promoting his new Netflix movie ‘Back In Action’ and his stand-up special ‘What Had Happened Was.’ Foxx explained how staying funny became a way to keep himself alive during his toughest days.

Foxx recalled that at first, he couldn’t believe what had happened to him. “When it happened, I didn’t remember it happened. … I had a brain bleed that led to a stroke. And, when I finally came to, I didn’t even realize what happened, because I missed 20 days of my life. And, when I came to, I said, ‘Yo, what am I doing in this wheelchair?’ And my boy said, ‘You had a stroke.’ I said, ‘Come on, bro, I’m Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx don’t have strokes.’ And he said, ‘Bro, don’t try to get out that chair, because you can’t walk. And I fell.”

He joked with his friend that strokes weren’t something that happened to him. As the reality set in, he decided he had to fight to get better. “I said ‘What, where is Ashton Kutcher? Am I being Punk’d?’ So when it settled in, I was like, ‘Man.’ It’s beyond this,” he recalled. “So, as we’re sitting here, it’s beyond on all this. Man, I really gotta try to get back.”

Humor played a big role in Foxx’s recovery. He entertained nurses and staff by cracking jokes and impersonating people. “The only way I did get back was kinda being funny,” he admitted. “I kept saying – I say it in my stand-up – ‘If I could stay funny, I could stay alive.’ So, when they would come check on me, I was always telling jokes to the point that they thought something was wrong with me. … ‘Where are you, sir?’ ‘I’m at the fix-it place.’ They said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And I was never myself. I would always be someone else. … And, for like three days, I was Denzel.”

Foxx collapsed after experiencing a severe headache in April 2023, while he was filming ‘Back In Action’ in Atlanta. He was rushed to Piedmont Hospital, where doctors found he had a brain bleed that caused a stroke. According to Foxx, the doctor told his sister, “If I don’t go into his head, we’re gonna lose him.” His sister joked, “You can go in his head but you ain’t gonna find nothin’.”

The actor spent 20 days in the hospital and woke up on May 4 in a wheelchair, unable to walk.

Foxx moved to Chicago for rehab after leaving the hospital. He worked hard to regain his strength. He admitted that he struggled with moments of arrogance, but his therapist reminded him that the stroke didn’t care about who he was. This motivated him to keep pushing forward.

His family also played a big role in his recovery. His daughter Anelise, who was 14 at the time, visited him in the hospital and played guitar to help calm him. Foxx described her music as a ‘spiritual defibrillator’ that gave him the strength to keep going.

Foxx shared more details about his journey in his Netflix special, using comedy to weave in jokes about the experience. He also addressed wild rumors that circulated online during his hospitalization, including claims that he was cloned, and responded with humor to shut down the speculation.

Foxx credits Atlanta for saving his life. It’s where he first started his stand-up career and where he received life-saving care after his stroke.

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