Jamie Foxx tightly controls what information he reveals about himself. The Oscar-winning actor and Grammy-winning singer hasn’t participated in an in-depth magazine profile since 2004. More recently, he dated Katie Holmes for six years and never talked about the relationship publicly. So when he suffered a life-threatening health emergency in April 2023, it wasn’t out of character for him to not share details about what happened.
He was waiting until he could tell the story on his own terms, which he finally does in his new Netflix special “What Had Happened Was…” In the tear-jerking special, Foxx — whose persona is one of an alpha male playboy who’s always the coolest guy in the room — gets vulnerable. He’s still funny, he’s still cool and still in control, but he’s been humbled. He’s someone who faced a near-death experience and came out the other side changed, but still himself.
The special is entirely about Foxx’s “mystery illness” — which he confirms was a stroke — and recovery. It’s part one-man show and part musical performance, but really it’s a sermon, as Foxx spends a large chunk of the special describing the spiritual journey he’s been on since the incident. His gratitude for God, his family and the medical professionals who helped him literally get back on his feet is palpable, and at times he gets so choked up that he has to pause to collect himself. He’s also frank about the anger and depression he felt about being confronted with his own mortality. His emotion is raw and sincere, and the audience in the theater sheds some tears along with him, as home viewers surely will, too. But the hour is full of laughter as well. Foxx’s mantra throughout the special is “If I can stay funny, I can stay alive,” and he finds power in laughing through the pain.
“What Had Happened Was” starts with a montage of headlines and social media conspiracy theory clips about his medical emergency, then an introduction from his daughter Corinne, until finally Foxx steps onstage and dances for 90 seconds while the crowd cheers, occasionally stopping to wipe tears from his eyes. It’s a triumphant declaration of survival that sets a celebratory tone for what’s to come. Even when he’s recounting the darkest moments of his recovery, Foxx is never too far from a joke or a moment of joy. He is happy to be alive.
Dressed in a tan leather t-shirt and matching pants and showing no signs of lingering impairment, Foxx alternates between raunchy jokes and tributes to the people who saved his life. One of the first jokes he makes addresses a conspiracy theory that Diddy tried to have him killed, Foxx jokes “Hell nah, I left them parties early. I was out by nine, something don’t look right, it’s slippery in here.” Later, he jokes that he thought for a moment he was dying and going to Hell, but he didn’t see the Devil, he saw Diddy holding a “flaming bottle of Johnson & Johnson.”
Off-color jokes like that pepper the heartfelt stories about the people who carried him through his hardest moments. The special was filmed at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater, which is down the street from Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, where his sister Deidra Dixon brought him when she suspected something was seriously wrong with him. Throughout the special, he expresses gratitude for all the medical professionals who helped him, like Dr. Schuette, the “cool whiteboy in a Lakers jersey” who performed his brain surgery at Piedmont, and “Holly,” the no-nonsense physical therapist in Chicago who forced him to swallow his pride in order to learn how to walk again.
Some of the most emotional parts of the special come when Foxx talks about the effects the stroke had on his ego. “I’m Jamie Foxx, I don’t get no strokes,” he recalls thinking as he rejected help and wallowed in self-pity, until Holly told him, “that stroke doesn’t give a f—k about who you are.” She told him that he had to kill the old, arrogant Jamie Foxx in order for the new Jamie to be born. He never says the words “born again,” but it is clear that he sees his stroke as a message from God that he needs to rededicate himself to his faith. “God blessed me with this talent, He blessed me with all this money and all this fame, and when I forgot about God, He blessed me with a stroke,” he says. He alternates this high-minded spiritual talk with lowbrow, self-deprecating stories from his recovery about how his “pickle” didn’t work and he couldn’t wipe his own ass. This is the most humble and vulnerable Jamie Foxx has ever been.
He says he made his caretakers laugh and kept his own spirits up by doing impressions, which sets up a stretch where he shows off his extraordinary gift for mimicry. He does uncanny impressions of Denzel Washington, Dave Chappelle, Mike Tyson and Donald Trump (he also does Jay-Z, but that one’s more childlike than Jay really is). This section of the special feels the most like traditional stand-up.
“What Had Happened Was” is Foxx’s first comedy special since 2003, and it’s remarkable how comfortable he seems on stage, and not only because he’s recovering from a stroke. Of all of Foxx’s talents, stand-up is the one he uses the least these days, but the special shows he’s still got it.
In the second half of the special, he shifts into a musical mode, bringing out his younger daughter Anelise to play guitar while he sings an original gospel song. He also puts on a pair of sunglasses and does some Ray Charles, and sits down at the piano to play and sing another new gospel song where he vows, in front of the predominantly Black audience, to stop dating white women…”in public.” If you’ve ever taken his talent for granted, “What Had Happened Was” serves as a reminder of all the things he’s incredible at, as well as all the great movies he’s been in. In one fun portion of the special, Foxx refutes an internet allegation that he died and was cloned by declaring that he’s such a singular talent that they couldn’t clone him even if they tried. Foxx’s ego has been readjusted, but it’s not gone. And why should it be? He starred in “Django Unchained,” sang “Slow Jamz,” and survived a stroke. He’s achieved a lot.
“What Had Happened Was” is directed by Hamish Hamilton, a two-time Emmy winner known for directing Super Bowl halftime shows and Academy Awards telecasts. Hamilton elevates the special with impressive stagecraft, dropping Foxx into darkness when he snaps his fingers to communicate how quickly the stroke happened, and putting a vital signs monitor on the screens behind Foxx as he talks about how Anelise’s guitar playing helped stabilize him when he was in a coma. After directing some of the most demanding live TV events on Earth, making a stand-up special look good must be a walk in the park for Hamilton.
The production and Foxx’s performance are so high-quality that you might feel like he’s totally bared his soul. But even though he’s more vulnerable in “What Had Happened Was” than he’s ever been before, Foxx is still only showing you what he wants you to see. “I didn’t want you to see me like that,” — that is, weak and sick – “I wanted you to see me like this;” fully recovered, strong and impressive once again. He talks about his stroke like it’s something he’s already defeated, not something he might still have lingering physical and emotional symptoms of. He was weak in the past, but he’s not anymore, and everything is back to normal, neatly resolved with a happy ending.
There’s no mention of the sexual assault allegations against him — not that this is an appropriate venue for that, but just to say that not everything is as perfect in Foxx’s world as he makes it out to be. Even when he tells all, he still keeps some distance between himself and the audience.
It would be gratifying if someday Jamie Foxx reveals who else he is behind his persona. Hopefully it doesn’t take another medical emergency for it to happen.
“Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…” is now streaming on Netflix.
The post ‘Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was’ Review: Actor Roasts Diddy, Fights Tears as He Talks Life-Altering Stroke in Raw Netflix Special appeared first on TheWrap.
