Jamie Foxx has revealed that a near-death experience he suffered last year was "a brain bleed that led to a stroke".
The family of the American actor, 56, said in April 2023 that he was recovering from a "medical complication", which Foxx later said was like going "to hell and back".
Foxx has addressed the circumstances of his condition for the first time in a Netflix comedy special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, which was released on Tuesday.
During the programme, he says that his illness is still a "mystery" and "we still don't know exactly what happened to me".
Emotional, he arrives on stage, saying "you have no idea how good it feels, Atlanta", as he was "fighting" for his life to recover.
Foxx, who had been filming the Netflix spy action film Back in Action with Cameron Diaz, recalls how he was treated at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta after suddenly falling ill.
He says it started as a "bad headache" before he went to a doctor, where he received a "cortisone shot", a steroid injection.
Foxx says his sister Deidra Dixon "knew something was wrong", as he was lethargic, and she took him to the hospital.
"She didn't know anything about Piedmont Hospital, but she had a hunch that some angels were in there," he recounts.
"Atlanta saved my life."
He also says the doctor told his sister that Foxx was "having a brain bleed that led to a stroke".
"You don't dream that something would go wrong, but when something does go wrong, you need a sister," Foxx tells the audience.
He says his sister was then told "if I don't go in his head right now, we're going to lose him", and he was sent for surgery.
"My sister knelt down outside the operating room and prayed the whole time," he continues.
"Your life doesn't flash before your face.
"It was kind of oddly peaceful. I say this all the time; 'I saw the tunnel. I didn't see the light. I was in that tunnel, though'. It was hot in that tunnel."
Foxx jokes that he wondered if he was "going to the wrong place".
Foxx also says that the doctor said the medical staff "didn't find" the origin of the brain bleed, but he was diagnosed with a stroke.
The doctor said that he would recover, which would probably "be the worst year of his life", Foxx explains.
He says his family protected him from public scrutiny and the extent of his illness, which saw his head shaking at one point and difficulties walking.
"Twenty days I don't remember, but on May 4 I woke up," Foxx adds.
"When I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair. I couldn't walk."
The Netflix special begins with his daughter, Corinne Foxx, welcoming her father to the stage, and saying: "This is a special moment for me and my family. It is a blessing to even be here."
Also during the programme, Foxx says he had difficulties coming to terms with his condition, and he was "down in the dumps" at one point.
He says that seeing a psychiatrist helped him, which also allowed him to rediscover his relationship with God.
"If I can stay funny, I can stay alive," he says.
Source: Press Association
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