‘You're blowing it’: Jamie Foxx claims a timely phone call from Oprah Winfrey changed his life forever
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx is allegedly back in action and is now in the middle of undergoing physiotherapy sessions in a health facility in Chicago. Following his mysterious health scare in April, and his subsequent hospitalization, Foxx is now reportedly doing well and is in recovery. While the ‘Ray’ actor’s family has maintained silence about his health except his daughter’s rare social media updates, Foxx’s industry friends have chimed in about how he's been doing to keep fans informed.
While almost everyone of note from Hollywood who is close to the actor has spoken about his health, Oprah Winfrey has refrained from making any comments. This comes as a surprise to many fans given the fact that the celebrated talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and Jamie Foxx’s friendship goes back a long way. The duo were so close that Foxx once revealed that it was Winfrey who intervened at the right time to save his career from falling apart.
‘You're blowing it’
During an appearance at SiriusXM’s radio show in 2017, Foxx revealed that it was Winfrey’s intervention at the right time that saved his career from disintegrating just after the release of his successful venture ‘Ray’. The 55-year-old actor then recalled that the success went to his head and he fell into a rather hedonistic way of life during the 2004-2005 award season — just when he was serious contender for the Academy Awards, "I'm having such a good time and I'm not knowing I'm f**king up," the actor recalled.
In the words of the actor himself, he was "doing every f**king think you could possibly imagine.” But Foxx revealed that he received a life-altering call from a renowned personality at that crucial juncture in his career. The personality was none other than Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey, after calling him, said three very impactful words that left a mark on the ‘Django Unchained’ actor’s life which he has always cherished. Winfrey said on the call, as per Foxx, "You're blowing it."
Foxx continued, "[She said], 'All of this gallivanting and all this kind of s**t, that's not what you want to do… want to take you somewhere. Make you understand the significance of what you're doing.'"
‘We go in the house and there are all these old Black actors’
Winfrey’s influence did not stop only at making that phone call. She also arranged a meeting with many Black actors from the previous eras who would later counsel Foxx so he could refocus on his career. Winfrey organized the gathering in the home of the iconic recording artist Quincy Jones.
Foxx recalled the heightening tension he felt at the gathering. "We go in the house and there are all these old actors," before adding, "Black actors from the '60s and the '70s who look like they just want to say, 'Good luck.' They want to say, 'Don't blow it.'"
Winfrey made him meet with the first African-American actor to win an Oscar, Sidney Poitier, who said to Foxx, "I want to give you responsibility. When I saw your performance [in Ray], it made me grow two inches." It was the moment of epiphany for Foxx who then broke down into tears and understood the gravity of his responsibility to carry on with the mantle of being a successful Black entertainer. He concluded, "To this day, it’s the most significant time in my life.” He ultimately won the coveted Academy Awards, but never went back to his reckless hedonism ever again.
