In the 22 years since Jamie Foxx put out his last new stand-up special — 2002’s musical-comedy classic I Might Need Security — the public has watched the comedian become an Oscar-winning actor, a Grammy-winning pop superstar, and most recently, the subject of widespread death rumors. In April 2023, after the comedian was hospitalized for a mysterious illness, speculation about his health status circulated all over the internet, causing widespread public confusion. Over a year later, we know now that Foxx is alive and well, but details of what actually happened to him during this period are limited to one public comment he made in July about a “bad headache†that caused him to black out for 20 days. On December 10, the comedian will release a new one-person show, What Had Happened Was on Netflix, in which he will recount the whole story publicly for the first time.
“I’m so glad to be here,†he says in the trailer, which features flashes of speculative headlines about his health and shots of him in tears onstage.
In a video on the CBS Mornings Instagram page recorded after Foxx wrapped up the recording at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in early October, co-host Gayle King asked Foxx how he was feeling in the aftermath. “It was an excruciating time, opening those wounds every single day,†he said. He went on to add that, if the emotions are raw, the same is true of the material: “Usually, when you do a stand-up special, you go out for a year and work every nook and cranny, then you tape it. You don’t just show up in Atlanta and turn the camera on.â€
What Had Happened Was isn’t the only high-profile project Foxx has coming out on Netflix in the coming months. His movie Back in Action, co-starring Cameron Diaz, is currently slated to hit the streamer on January 17. Foxx’s medical history is not the only thing from his past he is reckoning with. In November 2023, he faced lawsuit allegations that he sexually assaulted an unnamed woman at a New York bar in 2015. Foxx has denied the allegations.
This post has been updated.