Jamie Foxx tearfully thanked his daughters for their unwavering support during his recovery from a near-fatal stroke, calling them his lifeline in an emotional BET Awards acceptance speech

Daughters Corinne Foxx, 31, and Anelise Bishop, 16, were visibly emotional in the 2025 BET Awards audience as their father took the stage to accept one of the night’s Ultimate Icon Awards. Anelise’s chin quivered as she looked up at him through tears.

“When I saw that In Memoriam segment, I thought, ‘That could’ve been me.’ I don’t know why I went through what I did, but I know I’ve been given a second chance — and I’m not wasting it,” said the 57-year-old Jamie Foxx.

He expressed heartfelt thanks to his sister Deidre Dixon, a Hollywood hair and makeup artist, saying she “made sure her brother was cared for” during his health scare in spring 2023. He also gave special recognition to his eldest daughter, Corinne, who had kept the public informed during his recovery.

“My beautiful daughter, Corinne… I can’t say enough about you,” Jamie Foxx said, his voice thick with emotion. “You’ve always stepped back and let others shine. But when it was your turn to take the wheel—you drove. You made sure I was still here. I’ll stop crying eventually,” he added, pausing, “but not just yet.”

The moment came during Foxx’s heartfelt acceptance of the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET Awards, held June 9 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

His daughters, Corinne Foxx, 31, and Anelise Bishop, 16, sat in the audience, both moved to tears. Anelise’s chin quivered as she looked up at her father, her emotions mirroring his.

Foxx’s speech turned next to Anelise, sharing a deeply personal memory from his hospitalization in 2023.

“Anelise Estelle Foxx—my baby with the big hair,” he said, smiling. “She hides behind that hair because there’s something special inside. You’re so beautiful, man.”

He grew serious as he recounted a critical moment from his illness.

“When I was fighting for my life, they said, ‘We’re going to lose him. His vitals are dropping.’ I didn’t want my 14-year-old to see me like that. But Anelise overheard them. She snuck into my hospital room with her guitar and said, ‘I know what my Daddy needs.’”

Foxx paused. “She started playing, and my vitals… they started going up. The nurses rushed in asking, ‘What did we give him?’ And my daughter just said, ‘Shh… I’ve got him.’ That’s God in her guitar.”

Foxx had previously revealed the details of his mysterious health scare in his 2024 Netflix special. On April 11, 2023, he’d suffered a sudden, severe headache. After asking for an aspirin, he lost consciousness—waking up 20 days later with no memory of what happened in between.

Initially, he was misdiagnosed and sent home. A follow-up appointment finally revealed the cause: a stroke due to a brain bleed. Doctors never determined what triggered it.

As Foxx’s emotional speech stretched on—close to ten minutes—music legend Stevie Wonder, who had presented the award, made a lighthearted return to center stage to gently urge Foxx to wrap it up.

Foxx, laughing, noted he almost elbowed Wonder by accident and then playfully mimicked his walk across the stage, holding his trophy out front.

“How did he know?” Foxx joked, referencing Wonder’s earlier quip that he had watched and edited Foxx’s tribute package. Wonder had also ribbed Foxx for portraying fellow blind musician Ray Charles in the Oscar-winning film Ray, playfully calling him out for trying to connect with him “like a blind person.”