US actor Jamie Foxx made his first public appearance in Hollywood since suffering a mysterious medical emergency, telling an award show that he had not been able to even walk six months ago.
Making a surprise appearance at the Critics’ Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema and Television in Los Angeles Monday night, Foxx said he had “been through some things.”
“It’s crazy. I couldn’t do that six months ago, I couldn’t actually walk,” he told the audience.
“I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy, because it’s tough when you almost… when it’s almost over, when you see the tunnel,” Foxx added.
The Oscar-winner did not explain the nature of the illness, which occurred in April in the state of Georgia, where the 55-year-old was filming a Netflix movie.
But he joked: “I saw the tunnel, I didn’t see the light! It was hot in that tunnel too. I don’t know what was going on… ‘Shit, am I going to the right place?’ I see the devil going, ‘C’mon!’”
Foxx, an actor, comedian and Grammy-winning singer, won an Academy Award in 2005 for the Ray Charles musical biopic “Ray.”
Earlier this year he was filming “Back in Action,” co-starring Cameron Diaz, in Georgia.
In an Instagram message in July, Foxx told fans he had been “to hell and back,” and shared that his “road to recovery had some potholes as well.”
Foxx last month was accused of sexual assault, as part of a flurry of suits filed in New York before a statute of limitations deadline.
The alleged victim, identified only as Jane Doe, said Foxx groped her at a rooftop bar in Manhattan in 2015.
Monday’s award ceremony honoured Black, Latino and Asian American performers who have appeared in movies contending for prizes this year.
Foxx received the Vanguard Award for “The Burial,” a legal drama co-starring Tommy Lee Jones.
Other honorees on Monday night included America Ferrera (“Barbie”), Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) and Colman Domingo (“The Color Purple.”)
