Tragic Details About Jamie Foxx

The following article includes references to mental health struggles.

The undeniably talented multi-hyphenate Jamie Foxx has had a blessed career. His list of acting credits clocks in at just over 80 roles. He won the best actor Oscar for "Ray" in 2005. His 2008 album "Intuition" is certified platinum. He has found success as a TV game show host at the helm of "Beat Shazam," which was picked up for a sixth season in April 2023. Not to mention, he has millions of dollars to his name.

Yes, it may seem like we didn't hear from Foxx for a while. And sure, his (failed) relationship with Katie Holmes seemed to get more press than his professional accomplishments for a bit. However, his acting career is still going strong. For starters, in 2022, he appeared in Netflix's "Day Shift." The previous year, Foxx reprised the role of Electro in the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" movie. And as Todd McFarlane told SYFY Wire in 2020, he and Foxx have long had a "Spawn" movie in the works. Two years later, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Foxx continued to be attached to the project as a new team of writers joined on to work on its script.

But despite his successes on the big and small screens, his life has been anything but smooth. Starting at an early age, Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop) faced numerous challenges and, over the years, he's experienced repeated disappointment and heartbreak when it comes to his family life. Here are the tragic details about Jamie Foxx's life that even his biggest fans may not know.

When Oprah Winfrey asked Jamie Foxx in 2005 if he "honestly never missed" his mom and dad, the actor let his guard down. "Well, maybe I missed my mother a little," Foxx conceded, revealing that he used to wonder if Louise Dixon would come back and give him a different life. "I wanted my mom to show up, but for a different reason: She was so fly and good-looking," he told O magazine, adding, "We were country, but my mom was straight city. She had the new hair, the gold earrings, the Stingray Corvette."

As for his father's absence, Foxx said he was left feeling "puzzled" by it, asking, "Why couldn't he drive 28 miles to check on a son who passed a football more than 1,000 yards?" During a 2004 interview with GQ, Robert Daniels, who coached Foxx in both track and football in high school, shared a similar story, telling the outlet that Foxx always held out hope that his dad would show up to watch him compete, but he never did. "Not even when he went to the state championship," the mag noted. Foxx told Winfrey of his biological father, "He's not in my life presently," but the actor was quick to brush it off, adding, "It's not necessary."

While Jamie Foxx's biological mother didn't come back for her young son, she did go on to have and raise two more children. As GQ reported in 2004, Foxx has two half-siblings from his mother's side who were both raised by her. He's adamant that he holds no grudges against any of them, however. As he told Oprah Winfrey, he's never wondered why his siblings were offered a different opportunity "because I'm older than my sister[s], it's not like she chose to keep one and not the other at the same time."

And it seems he wasn't kidding. Once he found fame, Foxx actually invited half-sister Deidra Dixon, a hairdresser he described to GQ as being "a real fireplug," and half-sister DeOndra Dixon, who was born with Down syndrome, to live with him in his L.A. home. According to the outlet, he was also happy to help support them financially — a decision that had his friends worried. "I said, 'You know what? If I can't take care of my sister who has Down syndrome, what will people think of me sittin' up in Mr. Chow, drinking Dom Pérignon and doing interviews with GQ?'" he shared.

Jamie Foxx has never shied away from praising his grandmother, telling Entertainment Weekly, "My grandmother was my crew," and gushing to Oprah Winfrey that Grandma Talley taught him confidence and put him on the path to success. "I'd been playing piano since I was five, when my grandmother said, 'This is how you're going to make your money,'" he revealed, noting it was because of her that he "won a classical piano scholarship to United States International University."

Sadly, in 2004, Estelle Marie Talley died at the age of 95, 11 years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and that was the day when Foxx lost his friend, grandmother, and mother. "If you could go to heaven right now and say, 'Where is Estelle Talley?' Do that interview ... that's who knows me. Nobody else," he told GQ a few weeks after her passing. To this day, Talley's loss weighs heavily on the Oscar winner, who celebrated her would-be birthday in 2019 by posting a sweet snap of the two of them to Instagram and writing, "My rock... Miss u always... #iwishyouwerehere."

While his grandparents raised him, Jamie Foxx did find another father figure: his stepfather, George Dixon. GQ described him as ex-husband No. 2 or 3 for Louise Dixon, and Foxx told the outlet that they bonded over sports. "When I was running track, I'd always be looking for my stepfather [in the stands]," he recalled. "Sometimes he'd stand outside the fence and say, 'C'mon, man!' And I'd make it. I'd make the high jump."

Then, hardship struck once more. "They put my father in jail for $25-worth of illegal substance ... for seven years," Foxx revealed on "The Graham Norton Show" in 2020. "That father taught me everything. Taught me how to throw a football, basketball, taught me how to play tennis," he continued. Describing how difficult it was to come to terms with his stepdad being sentenced to time behind bars, he admitted, "I told my pops, 'I can't come see you because I see you as a king.'"

Meanwhile, speaking with GQ, the "Django Unchained" star admitted to feeling let down by George, but he pushed through. "I wrote him a letter," he told Graham Norton. "I said, 'Hey, you know, things have gotten good for me, when you get out I'll save your life.' And he's been living with me for 20 years now."

Jamie Foxx is a loving and devoted father of two daughters, Corinne Foxx and Anelise Bishop. So when his eldest, Corinne, was faced with a painful medical condition, it couldn't have been easy for the doting dad. As Corinne told Today, she dealt with pain, nausea, fatigue, and bladder discomfort every time she had her period. A friend recommended she seek medical attention, but a number of doctors gave her a number of (incorrect) diagnoses. "There's a lot of medical gaslighting that goes into this journey," she shared. "I think women of color, especially, are often silenced or not believed when they come in with symptoms." 

Eventually, Corinne was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis, a painful condition that Mayo Clinic explains is caused by tissue similar to that in the uterus growing in other areas. After educating herself on the issue, Corinne found the right specialist to perform surgery in 2018. "You just have to keep showing up for yourself," she said. "I learned that no one's going to fight for my health more than me."

The ordeal was so harrowing that she decided to become a spokesperson for the cause. These days, Corinne is an ambassador for the Endometriosis Foundation of America and she also executive produced the 2022 documentary "Below the Belt." Following the release of the film, Jamie took to Instagram to gush, "So proud of my daughter." He also encouraged folks to watch it, writing, "You will be blown away by the courage the women possess in this film."