Jamie Foxx was filming the movie Back in Action with Cameron Diaz in Atlanta in April 2023 when he was suddenly rushed to the hospital with a mystery illness. His eldest daughter Corinne, 30, flew to be by his side and handled the media during the stressful time, but didn't explain what was happening. All the media and public knew was that he was unable to return to the movie set and the film was finished with the use of a double.
In his new Netflix special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, Jamie explained what was going on after he was rushed to the Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. "They said at one point, the first 15 days, they thought they were going to lose me because my vitals were out of control," he revealed during the special.
Jamie said he suffered "a brain bleed that led to a stroke" and needed emergency brain surgery. He says while he was in a coma, he didn’t "see the light" but felt "oddly peaceful" in a "tunnel."
He recalled, "They said at one point, the first 15 days, they thought they were going to lose me because my vitals were out of control. There was a 13- or 14-day period where they said, 'We’ve gotta keep him calm and we’ve given him every medication that they could. It’s not working, we gotta keep him calm because his vitals are so high we’re going to lose him.'"
At that point, his daughter Anelise, then 14, snuck her guitar to his hospital room, saying, "I know what my daddy needs."
Jamie said, "They said when she was playing, my vitals went down. The nurses at the nurses’ station were baffled. Like, 'Wow what did they give him?' They rushed into the room and she said, 'Ssh. I got him.'"
He told the audience during the special, "Do you know what I found out? That God was in that guitar. That’s my spiritual defibrillator."
Jamie was in a coma for 20 days in total. On the special, he brought Anelise, now 16, out on stage to play guitar for the audience, saying, "Play, play, play. Let them see your talent. Shine Anelise, shine baby."
He then hugged Anelise and thanked her for "stepping up when all was lost."
Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… is now streaming on Netflix. ~Alexandra Heilbron