Jamie Foxx is speaking out for the first time after being hospitalized for a “medical complication” in April.
“First of all, I wanna say thank you to everybody that’s prayed, man, and sent me messages,” he said in a more than three-minute video posted on his Instagram Friday. “I cannot even begin to tell you how far it took me and how it brought me back.”
The actor’s daughter Corinne shared the news in April that Foxx was hospitalized but “already on his way to recovery” while filming the Netflix movie Back in Action in Atlanta. At the time, she didn’t provide many details on the health scare.
Foxx has also remained mostly out of the spotlight since, including missing public events such as the They Cloned Tyrone premiere in June. Earlier this month, he was spotted on a yacht in one of his first known appearances in public for months.
In May, Corinne did provide an update on her dad’s recovery after media reports suggested that his family was preparing for the worst. “My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating. In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday!” she wrote on Instagram at the time. Thanks for everyone’s prayers and support!”
The Oscar-winning actor also didn’t reveal many details on the incident in Friday’s video, but added, “I went through something that I thought I would never ever go through.”
“I know a lot of people were waiting or wanting to hear updates but to be honest with you, I just didn’t want you to see me like that man,” he continued. “I want you to see me laughing, having a good time partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show. I didn’t want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was gonna make it through.”
The God Is a Bullet actor went on to share his appreciation for his sister and daughter and their support throughout his recovery, saying they “saved my life.”
“To them, to God, to a lot of great medical people, I’m able to leave you this video,” he added. “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 that everyone could have in moments like these.”
In the clip, Foxx also proceeded to shut down rumors on social media that claimed he was “blind” or “paralyzed.”
“As you can see, the eyes are working, the eyes are working just fine,” he said. “I’m not paralyzed, but … I went to hell and back, and my road to recovery had some potholes as well. But I’m coming back and I’m able to work.”
Foxx concluded the video by thanking all his fans for their continued prayers, love and support.
“I love everybody and I love all of the love that I got,” he added. “If you see me out from now on and every once in a while I just burst into tears, it’s just because it’s been tough, man. I was sick, man. But now I got my legs under me, so you’re gonna see me out.”
