Jamie Foxx broke his months-long silence late Friday with a video posted to Instagram in which he addressed the health complications that have had him out of the public eye since April.
Thanking his fans, family and God for seeing him through the unnamed medical scare, the Oscar winner said he maintained extreme privacy through this time because “I didn’t want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was going to make it through.”
“First of all, I want to say thank you to everybody that’s prayed, man, and sent me messages. I cannot even begin to tell you how far it took me and how it brought me back,” he said. “I went through something that I thought that I would never, ever go through. And I know a lot of people were waiting or were wanting to hear updates, but to be honest with you, I just didn’t want you to see me like that, man. You know, I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show.”
He thanked his sister Deidre Dixon and his daughter Corinne, both of whom “saved my life” and helped him maintain that privacy — “You all know they kept it air-right, they didn’t let nothing out. They protected me.”
He said it was thanks “to them, to God, to a lot of great medical people, I’m able to leave you this video.”
Foxx then addressed some of the rumors that have circulated online about the nature of his medical emergency, saying that “sometimes things get out of hand” and despite what might be said online, he’s not blind, nor paralyzed.
“But I did go through — I went to Hell and back, and my road to recovery had some potholes, as well. But I’m coming back, and I’m able to work,” he said.
At that point in the video, Foxx began to tear up. He embraced the vulnerability and said that strangers may even see him “burst into tears” in public “every once in awhile… because it’s been tough, man. I was sick, man.”
“But now I got my legs under me, so you’re gonna see me out,” he said, concluding the video. “But like I said, I just want you to remember me for the jokes that I crack, the movies that I make — some of them good, some of them ain’t; I think I got a good one out — and the songs that I sing, man.”
The “good one out” he nodded to was certainly his latest feature costarring John Boyega and Teyonna Parris, “They Cloned Tyrone,” which debuted on Netflix Friday. He even cracked a joke about being a clone himself.
“Somebody’s talking about how I’m cloned. Well, check this out,” he said, going to pull his face off like a mask. “Just kidding. I’m not cloned, man, but I’m here on Earth because of some great people. I’m here on Earth because of God, man. So I love all of y’all. I just wanted to jump on here and let you know that I’m on my way back.”
The video, posted late Friday, was captioned on Instagram, saying, “Thank you a billion to everybody… Been a long road, but all the prayers, great people and God got me through.”
There’s well over one million likes on the post, with A-listers like Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan and Queen Latifah sending their support and love.
“Awww man! Who’s cuttin’ onions? Love you Foxx! Your light is needed ‘n’ appreciated right now!” enthused Smith.
“I love you brother!” wrote Jordan
Latifah said, “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, for you to be able to speak these words for yourself! We love you, Jamie. You are the best kind of person and always have been.”
“Oh Jamie! So happy to see your light shining so bright!” wrote Reese Witherspoon. “You are so loved and appreciated!”
“So happy to see you on here,” commented Rosie O’Donnell.
And Dwayne Johnson said he’s going to “bear hug the f–k outta you when I see you again.”
Foxx’s daughter, Corinne, simply wrote, “I love you, Dad.”
Corinne She was the one who first broke the news of her father’s so-called “medical complication” on April 12, writing, “We wanted to share that, my father, Jamie Foxx, experienced a medical complication yesterday.” She didn’t go into details about what led to her father’s medical situation but said, “Due to quick action and great care, he already is on his way to recovery.”
