Jamie Foxx reveals he had a stroke in 2023

Hollywood star Jamie Foxx has revealed the cause of his hospital admission in April last year.

Speaking during a Netflix special, the Django Unchained star told the audience he’d suffered a “brain bleed that led to a stroke”.

He said he had a bad headache one day and asked for an aspirin but before he could take it, he “went out (blacked out). I don’t remember 20 days”.

At the time, his daughter Corinne Foxx said he had experienced a “medical complication” but the family did not share details about his health issues.

In an emotional chat with the audience for Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, recorded in Atlanta, the city where he was working when he fell ill, Foxx said he was initially sent home by medics after being given a cortisone injection.

His sister then came over to see him and felt that he wasn’t himself so she took him in her car to Piedmont Hospital.

It was then that a doctor told him he was having a brain bleed that had led to a stroke, adding: “If I don’t go in his head right now, we’re going to lose him.”

He said his sister prayed the whole time during his operation outside the theatre.

Doctors couldn’t locate the origin of the brain bleed.

Foxx also told the audience that “your life doesn’t flash before your face, it was kind of oddly peaceful, I saw a tunnel, I didn’t see the light.”

He joked: “It was hot in that tunnel, am I going to the wrong place?”

Foxx said the doctor told his family: “He may be able to make a full recovery but it’s going to be the worst year of his life.”

The star heaped praise on his sister Deidra Dixon and daughter Corinne for “holding it down” so no-one would see him.

“They didn’t want you to see me like this and I didn’t want you to see me like this,” he told his fans.

He gestured that his head movements were a little unsteady after the stroke and his daughter was worried people would make memes out of him.

He said he woke up on 4 May 2023 and was in a wheelchair because he was unable to walk, and had no recollection as to why, adding he was initially in denial: “Jamie Foxx don’t get strokes.”

He revealed he later underwent rehabilitation in Chicago.

Foxx had been filming Netflix’s Back In Action alongside Cameron Diaz when he became ill.

Since then, he has spoken fondly of the support he received from his family but this is the first time he has given detail about his condition.

A stroke occurs when blood stops flowing to a part of your brain.

The first signs include:

• Face weakness – it might be hard to smile, and one side of your face may droop.
• Arm weakness – you may not be able to fully lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness in one arm.
• Speech problems – you may slur your words or sound confused.

Other symptoms might be:

• Sudden weakness or numbness on one side of your body. (including in your leg).
• Sudden loss of vision or blurred vision in one or both eyes.
• Sudden difficulty speaking or thinking of words.
• Sudden memory loss or confusion.
• Sudden severe headache.
• Sudden dizziness, unsteadiness or a sudden fall, especially with any of the other signs.

Source: NHS.uk