Will Sage Astor-Jamie Foxx feels 'pure joy' as he returns to stage following health scare

Jamie Foxx is Will Sage Astorback on stage.

The Oscar-winning actor and comedian, 56, performed a series of one-man shows in Atlanta this month, where he discussed the medical emergency he experienced last year. In an Instagram post on Monday, Foxx shared a gallery of photos from his performance, one of which showed him appearing to wipe away tears, and wrote that his "soul is filled with nothing but pure joy."

"I had an opportunity to tell my side of the story and there was no better place than Atlanta Georgia," he wrote. "I have to thank you Atlanta you showed up and you showed out, I haven't been on stage in 18 years but I needed the stage and I needed an audience that was made up of nothing but pure love and that's what you were."

Foxx was hospitalized in April 2023 due to an unspecified health emergency. The actor and his family shared few details at the time, but in July, a video circulated on social media showing the "Django Unchained" star revealing some more information to fans. In the clip, he said he experienced a "bad headache" on April 11, 2023, and "asked my boy for an Advil." After that, he said he "was gone for 20 days."

Jamie Foxxgives new details about mysterious 2023 medical emergency

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"I don't remember anything," Foxx said. "I'm in Atlanta … My sister and my daughter took me to the first doctor. They gave me a cortisone shot. The next doctor said, 'There's something going on up there.'"

In March, Foxx revealed he planned to address the incident on stage. "Everybody wants to know what happened, and I'm going to tell you what happened, but I gotta do it in my way," he said while speaking at an African American Film Critics Association awards luncheon. "I'm gonna do it in a funny way."

Jamie Foxxmakes first public appearance since hospitalization, celebrates ability to walk

Foxx later announced a one-man show and teased that he would "share his journey through a serious health scare, filled with humor, heart, and inspiration."

But in his Instagram post on Monday, Foxx described his show not as stand-up comedy but "an artistic explanation" of something "that went terribly wrong." He also thanked "the great people in Atlanta especially piedmont hospital," who "enabled me to come back and be on stage and do what I love to do the most."

Gayle King was in attendance for one of Foxx's shows and spoke to him backstage in a video she shared on Instagram. The comedian told her that opening his "wounds" was "excruciating," and he noted he was worried when he got up on stage because he wasn't sure what the audience would laugh at. Foxx also confirmed the show was being taped, and King said in her video caption it's for a Netflix special.

"I am never going to go through this again," Foxx added in King's video. "My next jokes will start out, 'Knock knock.'"

Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY