Jamie Foxx makes first public appearance since hospitalisation and sexual assault allegations

Actor Jamie Foxx made his first public appearance on Monday after suffering an undisclosed health scare in April and said six months ago he was unable to walk.

An emotional Foxx took centre stage to accept the Vanguard Award from the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievement in Los Angeles, presented by his The Burial co-star Jurnee Smollet.

“I saw the tunnel. I didn’t see the light,” he said during his acceptance speech, noting his medical condition was life-threatening.

He did not disclose the nature of his illness.

The Ray actor became emotional when said he wouldn’t wish what he went through on his worst enemy.

“It’s tough when it’s almost over,” he said.

Foxx thanked everyone for their prayers and gave special recognition to his sister and his daughter, Corinne Foxx, for “not letting anyone know what happened”.

“I can only say that you need somebody like that in your corner,” he said.

Foxx shared that he was sent to a facility in Chicago with his face covered to hide his identity while recovering.

However, he comedically told audiences that the black woman who checked him in insisted on seeing his face.

“’I’m going have to sign you in. I run a tight ship in here, baby. I’m going have to see your face,’” he recalled her telling him.

Foxx became more emotional as he described her seeing his face and telling him she had been praying for him.

“I said ‘wow’ and that gave me an indication that once I get out of all of this, I was going to be all right because I was going to see Taraji, I was going to see Fantasia, I was going to see Lenny,” he said, referring to other artists in attendance on Monday night.

Well-known names, including actor Kerry Washington and basketball star LeBron James and others, posted tributes to Foxx after his hospitalisation. In May he posted an Instagram video sharing that he was out of the Atlanta hospital and recovering.

Reuters reported in November that Foxx was accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed in New York City alleging that he groped a woman at a rooftop bar and restaurant in Manhattan in August 2015.

The plaintiff, identified in the complaint only as Jane Doe, said the assault occurred in a secluded corner of the Catch NYC rooftop lounge after she and a friend had approached the film star and had their pictures taken with him.

The lawsuit said Foxx began groping the woman and putting his hands under her clothing against her will until her friend found the two of them, interrupting the encounter, and she left.

Foxx, 55, is known for films such as Collateral and Django Unchained.

Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievement arrives on STARZ on January 13.

Reuters