Jamie Foxx makes his triumphant return after a medical emergency that left him hospitalized last year in the first trailer for his upcoming Netflix stand-up special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was. The special debuts on Netflix on December 10.
The trailer opens with a slew of headlines and news reports from during his 2023 hospitalization and subsequent recovery. But proving he can't be kept down, Foxx takes the stage to applause and declares, “I'm back!”
“I'm so glad to see ya'll here, and I'm so glad to be here,” he says.
Though the clip stops short of revealing any details surrounding his medical scare, one scene shows Foxx tearing up. “What had happened was,” he says before the trailer ends.
According to the official description of the special, Foxx “sets the record straight with humor and vulnerability. Amidst laughter and applause, Jamie expresses deep gratitude to those who prayed and supported his recovery, turning this performance into a touching thank you to his fans. This comedy event is a celebration of resilience, humor, and the power of community, reminding us all of the healing power of laughter.”
Foxx was hospitalized with an undisclosed medical complication in April 2023 while shooting the Netflix action-comedy Back in Action with Cameron Diaz (the film is set to premiere in Jan. 2025). Though specifics remain scant, over the summer, the Oscar winner was caught on camera telling a group of people that he remembered having a headache, asking a friend for an Advil, and then being “gone for 20 days. I don't remember anything.”
Foxx was released from the hospital in May and began speaking a bit about what had happened on social media in the ensuing months. He returned to the public eye in December and then announced his stage show about his emergency earlier this year.
In an Instagram post shared in October, Foxx spoke about the powerful and emotional experience of finally sharing his story onstage.
“My heart and my soul is filled with nothing but pure joy,” Foxx said of getting to “tell my side of the story,” alongside a carousel of pictures from the performance. He noted it wasn't just his first time onstage since his hospitalization — but his first time on stage in 18 years.
“But I needed the stage and I needed an audience that was made up of nothing but pure love and that's what you were,” he continued. “When people ask me is this a stand up comedy show I say no it's an artistic explanation. Of some thing that went terribly wrong, but thanks to the great people in Atlanta especially Piedmont Hospital you enabled me to come back and be on stage and do what I love to do the most.”
