We can all use a little help from Oprah, including celebrities. Jamie Foxx revealed that TV queen Oprah Winfrey staged a sort of intervention for him in 2005 which ultimately made him grow up.
Oprah is well-known for her good deeds and actions, and we just love her and thank her for that.
Yet another incredible story about Oprah Winfrey
Oprah is one of the most beloved celebrities of all times. Not only she’s successful but she’s also a great example to follow when it comes to helping others.
So, we’re used to seeing Oprah helping people and doing good things for other, however this past week we learned that she staged an intervention for actor Jamie Foxx, and is everything we could expect from her and more.
During an interview with Howard Stern on his Sirius XM radio show on Tuesday, Foxx revealed that Oprah Winfrey worked her magic touch on him, and I mean a tough call out and made magic work.
It all happened during the 2004-2005 award season. Jammie Foxx was partying hard and having the time of his life after her breakthrough role in Ray Charles biopic, “Ray.” It was pretty much everything going up for him with a Best Actor Oscar nomination catapulting his career.
Then, he received a phone call from Oprah who gave him quit a call out. She said to him that he was “blowing it,” and delivered some wisdom.
“‘All of this gallivanting and all this kind of s–t, that’s not what you want to do … I want to take you somewhere. Make you understand the significance of what you’re doing.’”
So, Oprah organized a meeting for him with several legendary black actors at Quincy Jones’ home. All the legendary actors greeted him for his work.
He finally learned the gravitas of the situation after meeting Sidney Poitier, who is the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actor.
Poitier apparently told Foxx at that crucial meeting, “‘I want to give you responsibility … When I saw your performance, it made me grow two inches.’”
The breaking point
At that moment, Foxx says, he broke down.
“To this day, it’s the most significant time in my life where it was, like, a chance to grow up,” Foxx said.
Foxx went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor — the third ever in history. During his acceptance speech, he made reference to the story and the intervention staged by Oprah-
Finally, he said, “I’m taking that responsibility tonight. Thank you, Sidney.”
Spread the word
The author, actress, and former talk show queen recently made an appearance in a college speaking circuit delivering messages to the youth.
Oprah delivered speeches at Agnes Scott College, Smith College, Skidmore College last week. The speeches have been filled with feeling and candid moments.
In Skidmore College, Winfrey received an honorary Doctorate of Letters in the Arts from the private liberal arts college during the ceremony held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
During her commencement speech at Smith College, the media mogul encouraged graduates to seek fulfillment by serving others.
Winfrey told the graduates to “shift the paradigm to service and the rewards will come.” She says empowerment comes from understanding that there’s an “alignment between who you are and what you do.”
One of Smith’s graduating students, Morgan Mpungose, attended the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, a boarding school that the media mogul opened in 2007 for poor girls in South Africa.
A lot going on
Oprah’s intervention clearly delivered as Jamie Foxx is one of the biggest actors and musicians in these days.
The actor has a lot going on recently. Earlier this year, the actor starred in director Baran bo Odar’s crime thriller, Sleepless. Foxx plays alongside T.I undercover cops who search for one of their kidnapped sons. The movie gathered $28 M worldwide.
Foxx also worked in Edgar Wright’s film Baby Driver, where he plays alongside Kevin Spacey, Ansel Elgort, Eiza Gonzalez and Lily James. The film follows a young getaway driver who tries to leave the criminal world behind and gets caught in a complicated last job. The film is set to release on June 28.
Jamie Foxx is currently on a promotional blitz in support of his new Fox game show, “Beat Shazam.”
Produced by The Voice‘s Mark Burnett, Don’t Forget the Lyrics creator Jeff Appleoff and Shazam Entertainment Limited, the interactive musical game show is based on the Shazam app, the popular app that identifies songs.
The show is expected to premiere this summer on Fox, which brought him to Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” couch on Thursday.
During his appearance, Fallon enticed the “Ray” Oscar-winner to play a game of “Musical Genre Challenge”.He and Fallon were tasked with singing a variety of songs in the style of different musical genres
Among these: a Broadway musical, which resulted in Foxx giving “Who Let the Dogs Out” a bit of “Les Miserables” flair, which he followed up with Rihanna’s “B**ch Better Have My Money” as if it were opera.
Source: BBC