Tis the season to get close to family! But in Jamie Foxx’s case, the multimillion-dollar entertainer has no choice as he’s always with them. According to Foxx, there are about 14 family members that live in his household. Born Eric Bishop in Texas, Jamie Foxx was raised by his mother’s adoptive parents. His birth parents, Darrell Bishop and Louise Dixon, abandoned him as a seven-month-old baby, leaving his grandparents to eventually adopt him. The Spider-Man: No Way Home actor has often credited his grandmother, Estelle Marie Talley, for his many talents including partaking in piano lessons and singing in the church choir.
Jamie Foxx has been vocal about his upbringing. During a 2005 interview with Oprah, Jamie Foxx shared that he was never lacking in the love department from a mother or a father. This did not fill the void that he felt wondering why his birth parents gave him up at a young age. The Oscar winner shared that he always wanted his mother to show up as he knew her to be “fly” and more city than country.
As for his father, Foxx was bewildered as they lived in close proximity to one another. The television personality also expressed his belief that his birth father’s absence was perhaps due to his conversion to Islam. “I’m a Muslim, and since you’re not, I can’t be your father,” said Foxx’s birth father, according to his interview with Oprah. The two spent years without speaking until his grandmother’s unfortunate passing in October of 2004, which would lead them to communicate at the funeral. It was there that Foxx questioned if his father’s religion was worth missing out on his son’s life.
Jamie Foxx spent a great portion of his life without seeing or being in active communication with either of his birth parents. That would all change some years later. The actor revealed in a 2020 interview on the Graham Norton Show in the U.K. that his birth parents, who split up over 25 years ago, are currently living with him. Foxx reconnected with his father after a seven-year incarceration for illegal possession. He told the talk show’s host that while his father was locked up, he would write him in order to keep in contact. One of the things that he told his father was, “Things have gotten good for me and when you get out I will save your life.”
Foxx also explained how his birth mother came to live with him. For years, the entertainer would send a plane ticket to his mother and share that she could visit at any time. But 12-years ago at Christmas time, his mother took him up on his offer. Foxx then said that two months would pass before realizing that his mother had not left his house.
The singer also shared that although his parents had not been together in over 25 years, the household isn’t “weirdly fun.” Jamie Foxx shared that his father will still go on dates and bring them back to his house and his mother will go to his father’s side of the house to “check things out.”
But during a recent appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Jamie Foxx revealed that it’s more than just his divorced parents that stay with him. At the start of the quarantine, Foxx had about 14 family members living at his house, and initially, he described the experience as a “horrible” one. But he would then change his tune to say that it “worked.” Things got more interesting as his divorced parents have now lived together for 14 years. Foxx then shared that his house is referred to as the “Black Mansion” because it’s “still hood.”
