Jamie Foxx reveals how brain bleed led him to lose 20 days: 'When I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair'

Jamie Foxx has revealed that his "mystery illness," which saw him hospitalized for over a month in 2023, was a brain bleed that turned into a stroke.

The actor and comedian got candid about the medical scare in his new standup special What Had Happened Was, which kicks off with a series of news broadcasts addressing his hospitalization before Foxx himself dances out onto the stage, proclaiming, "I'm back."

From there, Foxx continued showing off his dance moves, telling the crowd, "If I dance all night, don't mind me. I'm happy to be alive." Afterward, the actor grew somber as he dove into the story behind his illness.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened to me," Foxx began. "All I can tell you is that I appreciate every prayer because I needed it."

Emotional, he sat down and took a moment to wipe away tears before continuing.

"April 11th, I was having a bad headache, and I asked my boy for an aspirin," he shared. "And I realized quickly where you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f--- to do. But I was having such a bad headache… Before I could get the aspirin," Foxx paused abruptly, snapping his fingers and explaining, "I went out.”

Foxx added, “I don’t remember 20 days.”

Related: Jamie Foxx tells Gayle King it was 'excruciating' to open up about health scare for new stand-up show

Recounting what he has since been told about how the early days of his sickness unfolded, Foxx shared that he was taken to a doctor in Atlanta who simply gave him a cortisone shot before sending him home.

"What the f---is that?," he wondered aloud. "I don’t know if you can do Yelps for doctors but that’s half a star."

The Back in Action star credits his younger sister Deidra Dixon with taking charge, and driving him around Atlanta until she came to Piedmont Hospital. "She had a hunch that some angels [were] in there," he told the crowd.

There, the family met a second doctor, who delivered the diagnosis.

“This cool white boy, Dr. Schuette… They say he had on a Lakers jersey. Just cool as s---," Foxx said. "But he told my sister some horrible news about her big brother. He said, 'He’s having a brain bleed that’s led to a stroke.' Damn. Me. Me, man, me."

Foxx said the doctor insisted on an immediate surgery, telling his sister, "'If I don’t go in his head right now, we’re gonna lose him.'" As Foxx tells it, Dixon fired back, "'You can go in his head, but you ain’t gonna find nothin.'"

He explained, "My sister made a joke because sometimes you gotta laugh to keep from crying.” The operation proceeded and Foxx said his sister knelt outside the operating room, praying the whole time.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Continued Foxx, “When the doctor came out, he said, 'Your prayers were answered. We didn’t find where it was coming from, but he is having a stroke. He may be able to make a full recovery. But it’s gonna be the worst year of his life.'"

Though that marked the start of his recovery, Foxx's own memory doesn't kick in until much later.

"On May 4th I woke up," he said with another snap of his fingers. "And when I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk. In a wheelchair. And I was like, 'What the f--- , why am I in a wheelchair?'"

He turned to his friend, and a member of his management team, Dave Brown for answers. "He said, 'Foxx, you had a stroke,'" the actor recounted, adding that Brown warned him, "'Don’t try to get out of that chair 'cause you can’t walk.'"

Not believing him, Foxx attempted to stand and after realizing he couldn't, became emotional as he told his friend, "Jamie Foxx don’t get strokes. It's a bad joke, Dave. That's old man s---, man, I don't get no strokes. Stop this f---ing prank."

Thanks to therapy and physical rehab, Foxx has come a long way since then.

The public first learned of Foxx's health crisis in mid-April 2023 when his daughter Corinne announced that he had experienced a "medical complication" that resulted in his hospitalization in Georgia. "Luckily, due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery," Corinne said at the time.

The next update came three weeks after the incident, with the actor writing, "Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed" on Instagram. He remained out of the public eye and provided few updates until July, when he addressed fans directly in a self-taped video.

Related: Corinne Foxx celebrated engagement in dad Jamie Foxx’s physical rehab room: 'So intimate and meaningful'

"I just didn't want you to see me like that," Foxx said of his desire for privacy. "I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, a television show. I just 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.”

Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… is now streaming on Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly