“Black-ish” star Jenifer Lewis recalled her painful recovery process after a near-fatal fall from a 10-foot balcony while vacationing in Africa.
She fought tears as she described the physical pain she endured during an emotional interview on “The Tamron Hall Show,” Friday. Lewis fell in late 2022 and required a 9-hour surgery to repair her fractured acetabulum, the socket of the hip bone that holds the femur in place, according to People. The actress remained in ICU for six days, and underwent three blood transfusions before she was transferred to a recovery room. She expressed how difficult it was to learn to walk again. “In Nairobi when they asked me to walk, you know the parallel bars? I couldn’t remember how to walk,” she told Hall. “I couldn’t remember how to put one foot. I didn’t even… I couldn’t remember what to do!”
Lewis described the sheer horror she felt when she realized the challenges that lay ahead.
She noted her son attempted to encourage her to walk again, but she was simply unable to.
“He said, ‘Mum, mum, you must walk here now. Come. Walk here.’ I was like, ‘How do you do that?” Lewis said to Hall.
The famous actress continued to fight tears as she explained what happened next.
Jenifer Lewis attends her Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony at Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Marc Shaiman, Jenifer Lewis and Debbie Allen attend the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony for Jenifer Lewis at Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Jenifer Lewis visits the SiriusXM Studios on April 03, 2024 in New York City. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images
“I sat down in the wheelchair and I sobbed and I heard myself say, ‘You’ll get up. You’ll get up and you’ll walk, or I’ll kill you myself,'” she said.
Sheer determination set in, and she willed herself to recover.
“Now get up. Get up. You get up and you walk. Come on baby.’ And I walked,'” she said.
Jenifer Lewis attends the 2020 13th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on February 06, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for ESSENCE
Jenifer Lewis attends The Academy Celebrates “The Princess And The Frog” 10th Anniversary at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on September 05, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty Images
Lewis and her friends were in the middle of an African getaway when she fell shortly after checking into a hotel in the Serengeti. The actress walked by her room’s private pool in the darkness of the night, and fell 10 feet into a dry ravine full of boulders and rocks, according to People.
She lay there for some time before she was discovered, and airlifted to hospital.(RELATED: Jeremy Renner Makes On-Screen Return After Near-Fatal Snow Plow Accident)
The famous actress has made a remarkable recovery and expressed gratitude that she was given a second chance at life.