Jamie Foxx is speaking out in a big way about his hospitalization this spring, saying that he “went to hell and back” during the medical saga.
In a three-minute video the Oscar winner posted to Instagram on Friday, July 21, he didn’t elaborate on his diagnosis, but he did emphasize how “tough” he has had it since April, when he was hospitalized while filming a movie in Georgia. (TMZ reported in May that Foxx was recuperating at a Chicago physical rehabilitation center specializing in stroke recovery, traumatic brain injury rehab, spinal cord injury rehab, and cancer rehabilitation.)
Foxx started his video by expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support he has received in the past three months. “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. I went through something that I thought I would never, ever go through.”
The actor acknowledged that fans spent a long time waiting for an update on his condition. “But to be honest with you, I just didn’t want you to see me like that, man,” he explained. “You know, 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.”
Foxx also thanked his sister Deidra Dixon and his daughter Corinne Foxx for saving his life. “So to them, to God, to a lot of great medical people, I’m able to leave you this video,” he said. “I cannot tell you how great it feels to have your family kick in in such a way. And y’all know, they kept it airtight, they didn’t let nothing out, they protected me. And that’s what I hope everyone can have in moments like these.”
He did respond to rumors about his medical situation, saying he wasn’t blind or paralyzed. “But … I went to hell and back, and my road to recovery had some potholes as well,” he said. “But I’m coming back, and I’m able to work, so I want to thank the people that let me work. And I just wanted to say that I love everybody, and I love all of the love that I got.”
Acknowledging that he was getting choked up in the video, Foxx said that he’s not hiding his emotions. “And if you see out from now and then every once in a while, I just burst into tears, it’s because it’s been tough, man. I’ve been sick, man. But now I got my legs under me, so you’re going to see me out.”
He went on: “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. The songs that I sing, man.”
And the Beat Shazam host debunked one last rumor about his ordeal. “You know, somebody was talking about I’m cloned,” he said, before pretending to take off a mask. “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.”
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
