He's had lots of success as an actor, but even before his recent health scare,
Jamie Foxx had also experienced quite a bit of hardship over the
course of his life. Here's how the Oscar winner has dealt with the difficulties.
Foxx was abandoned by his parents not long after he was born, so his grandparents adopted
him when he was just a few months old. In 2005, the actor told Oprah Winfrey,
"I was never short on the love of a mother and father,
though it came from an earlier generation of the family."
Foxx knew that his father lived just miles away, but wouldn't make the trip even to see him play
sports. Foxx theorized that his father's religion, Islam, may have played a role in his absence.
At the time of that interview, Foxx wasn't on speaking terms with his mother, either,
but that would eventually change. In 2020, the actor talked about his rather unconventional
home life on "The Graham Norton Show," saying that both his parents were living with him,
though they'd been divorced for more than two decades.
"He still dates. So he has dates. But she'll go
on his side of the house just to see who's in there, like, 'Hmm.'"
Jamie Foxx grew up in a small, racially divided Texas town. According to Anne
M. Todd's biography, "Jamie Foxx," the actor learned from not only his
grandparents' work ethic but how they were treated by their white employers.
When Foxx spoke to Oprah Winfrey in 2005, he told a heartbreaking story about getting hired at 15 by
a white family to play piano for their Christmas party. When his friend dropped him off and walked
to the door with him, Foxx remembered being asked why two Black people had shown up. That
was followed by some racial slurs, and Foxx having to ask his friend to leave and pick him up later.
Foxx was also reprimanded for not having a tuxedo, then given one from a massive closet. At the end
of the night, Foxx went to give the tuxedo jacket back. But the owner of the house told him to keep
it because he wouldn't wear it after Foxx did. Foxx said that it always left him wondering:
"What is it about me being born that bothers you so much?"
Foxx spoke with The Daily Mail in 2009, around the time of the release of his film "The Soloist."
He had lost a considerable amount of weight for the film, and admitted that he'd started hearing
voices while filming. Foxx explained that his doctor told him the extreme weight loss could
have kick-started the effects of some PCP that had been put in his drink during a college party.
Foxx recalled that he had been drinking whiskey when suddenly,
"I was almost in a coma, and I couldn't move, couldn't talk,
couldn't even say, 'Take me to the hospital.'"
At the emergency room, Foxx found out that his drink had been spiked. He had active and frequent
flashbacks for nearly a year afterward, saying a friend stayed with him during the worst times.
"I was afraid of the dark, and he would talk to me every night and calm me down
and say stuff like, 'You're OK, the demons aren't real.' He saved my life."
The flashbacks got less frequent, but Foxx said that they lasted into his 30s.
Foxx also talked to The Daily Mail about being hounded by a stalker in
2009. The actor said that he was staying in Philadelphia when a man tried to force
his way into his hotel room twice. It was only after the man was arrested a
month later that Foxx realized his would-be attacker had been arrested around 40 times,
and had a criminal record that included stalking and weapons possession. The man, Steven Taliver,
was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, and was remitted to a psychiatric facility.
Foxx said that the encounter had a lasting impact on him, explaining,
"When I'm out, whether it's by myself or whether I'm with someone watching me, I'm always thinking,
'Where's the way out?' [...] You have to think that there could be peril because of
the life you lead, and you have to think about all the things that could happen."
Foxx was raised by his grandparents, and he was just 17 years old when his grandfather,
Mark Talley, died after an unspecified illness. Foxx was present at the end of
his grandfather's life and even attempted to resuscitate him.
Foxx's grandmother, Estelle Talley, died many years later, in 2004, at the age of 95. For the
last 11 years of her life, she had lived with Alzheimer's. Foxx recalled knowing that no
matter how bad it got, he'd always known that she could sense his presence, and although she
did live to see his success, she died just before he earned three Golden Globe nominations and an
Oscar for his performance in "Ray." He honored her in his Oscar acceptance speech, saying,
"She still talks to me, only now she talks to me in my dreams."
Foxx's sister, Deondra Dixon, died in 2020 at the age of 36. Dixon had
lived with Foxx since graduating high school and served as an ambassador for
the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. In an Instagram post, Foxx shared,
"My heart is shattered into a million pieces... Deondra you have left A hole in my heart... but
I will fill it with all of the memories that you gave me... I love you with every ounce of me."
"I'm the king of this right here."
When Foxx was suddenly rushed to the hospital in April of 2023,
his family offered no specifics about his condition, what had happened,
or his prognosis. All that was known was that he had been filming a movie
for Netflix. His representatives were also silent on the matter, as were his friends
Kevin Hart appeared on the podcast Impaulsive, and when he was asked
about Foxx's condition, he said wasn't going to break his friend's confidence.
"Jamie's always been a private person to a certain degree."
He did, however, reassure listeners that their support, thoughts, and kind messages
were heard and appreciated, and at the end of the day, that's what mattered the most.
Foxx himself broke his silence on May 3, posting thanks for the
support on Instagram and adding that he was "feeling blessed." On May 13,
Foxx's daughter Corinne posted to Instagram to say he was out of the hospital.