Jamie Foxx Shares How Daughter Saved Him During Health Battle As He Reveals Mystery Illness
When Foxx was hospitalized for a medical emergency in April 2023, he recalled the “miracle” that was “working through” his 16-year-old daughter Anelise. “The nurses at the nurses’ station were baffled,” he said during his recent Netflix special.
Speaking candidly, Jamie Foxx describes how his youngest daughter helped him through his medical crisis last year.
The actor disclosed that he had a stroke in his first-ever health battle in his new Netflix special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, which debuted on Tuesday.
How Foxx’s Daughter Helped Improve His Condition
Foxx, who shares Anelise with his ex-girlfriend Kristin Grannis, stated that his declining vitals during his first two weeks in the hospital worried the doctors. But he claimed that a “miracle” happened after Anelise “snuck into” his room.
He stated during the special, “They said at one point, the first 15 days, they thought they were going to lose me because my vitals were out of control.” “They said that we needed to keep him calm for 13 or 14 days, and we gave him all the medication they could. His vitals are so high that we are in danger of losing him, so we need to keep him calm.
“When you’re trying to maintain your composure in a hospital room, do you know what the worst thing could be? “Black relatives,” he added in jest.
According to Foxx, his daughter brought her guitar when she paid him a visit in his hospital room.
“A miracle occurred at that moment, and my youngest daughter was the vehicle for it. “She’s fourteen,” he remembered. “She sneaked into my hospital room with her guitar and said, ‘I know what my daddy needs … that’s my daddy.'” I didn’t want her to see me like that.
As he described how his daughter’s guitar playing benefited him, Foxx started to cry.
He sobbed as he remarked, “They said when she was playing, my vitals went down,” “The nurses were perplexed at the nurses’ station. “Wow, what did they give him?” as in She said, “Ssh,” as they hurried into the room. You know what I discovered? I got him. That guitar contained God. My spiritual defibrillator is that.
After that, Anelise went on stage with her father. Before Anelise and Foxx performed together, Foxx sobbed as he held his daughter.
He told Anelise, “Play, play, play,” with emotion as she strung the guitar. “Show them what you’re capable of, Anelise. Shine, sweetheart.
“You had to make it because I always dreamed that we’d perform together onstage one day,” Anelise said in response to Foxx’s statement, “Anelise, thank you so much for stepping up when all was lost.”
Foxx’s health scare was the subject of an emotional song performed by the father-daughter pair. Anelise played guitar, and Foxx sang and rapped.
At one point, he sang, “Please let me walk my oldest daughter down the aisle when she gets married; God don’t take me, let me stay awhile.” A picture of the adorable moment surfaced on stage behind him as he talked about walking his older daughter Corinne, 30, who got married in September 2024, down the aisle.
Foxx Details Medical Emergency
During the comedy special, Foxx also discussed the medical emergency itself, recalling how a stroke almost killed him.
He was in Atlanta at the time filming Back in Action with Cameron Diaz. After that, Foxx claimed to have a “bad headache.”
He remembered, “I asked my boy for an aspirin on April 11 because I was having a terrible headache.” “And I quickly realized that your boys don’t know what the f–k to do when you’re in a medical emergency.”
“I went out before I could get the aspirin,” he added. I can’t recall twenty days. They informed me that after taking me to the first physician, I was simply given a cortisone shot and sent home.
Foxx claimed that even though he was sent home, his sister Deidra Dixon was aware that something was “wrong” with him.
“‘Something’s wrong with my brother,’ she said, four-foot-eleven and filled with nothing but pure love,” he remembered. “They said I was sluggish when she came to visit me. “Get him in the car,” she says. There isn’t my brother there.
Dixon took her brother to Piedmont Hospital, which Foxx mentioned was “just 400 yards away” from the Alliance Theatre, the location of his special’s filming. Foxx claims his sister was informed by doctors that he was “having a brain bleed that has led to a stroke.”
Foxx was hurried to the operating room.
“I noticed the tunnel. The light was not visible to me. But I was in that tunnel,” he remembered. ‘S–t, am I going to the wrong place in this motherf–ker?’ It was hot in that tunnel. Because I thought I saw the devil—like, ‘Come on,’ when I looked at the end of the tunnel.”
When Foxx awoke on May 4 from a weeks-long coma, he found himself in a wheelchair.
He eventually recovered completely and revealed that his sense of humor kept him going.
Foxx claimed that “the only thing I could hold onto was my sense of humor” after losing everything else.
He remembered telling himself, “I can stay alive if I can stay funny.”
Foxx was nominated for a 2025 Golden Globe for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television the day before his Netflix special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, was released on the streaming service.
