Was Jamie Foxx Adopted? Jamie's Childhood Uncovered

Multi-talented celebrity Jamie Foxx, on track Wish U Were Here from his album “Unpredictable”, laments about the fact that he wishes his grandmother was still with him. She is a figure in his life that he has often commented positively on for raising him, was he adopted by her?

Jamie Foxx, born Eric Marlon Bishop, was adopted by his maternal grandparents, Esther Marie Talley and Mark Talley. He had very little interaction with either of his birth parents, leaving his grandparents to raise him.

As Foxx, who was just a baby at the time, had both of his birth parents absent from his childhood, it fell to his maternal grandparents to pick up the responsibility of caring for the parent-less child. Foxx has often credited his grandmother in particular for being an incredibly positive role model in his life. During his upbringing, he had no further contact with his birth parents.

Birth Parents and Adoptive Parents

Foxx was the child of father Darrel Bishop and mother Louise Annette Talley Dixon. Foxx was incredibly young when his parents left him and although he himself commends how good a caregiver and teacher his grandmother was, Foxx remembers often wondering about why everything happened the way that it did. A memory that he talks about is thinking back to when he was growing up, wondering where his parents were and why they didn’t want to connect with him.

In particular, Foxx had hardship with the idea of forgiving his father, seemingly unable to put his grievances with the man to rest despite attempts at reconciliation. Foxx did successfully reconcile with his biological mother, however, and also formed a bond with her husband George Dixon, the stepfather who Foxx refers to as his “pops”.

Foxx Influenced by his Grandmother

Interestingly, considering that they also went on to adopt Foxx, Foxx’s grandparents had also originally adopted his mother. He speaks incredibly highly of his adoptive parents, specifically his grandmother whom he attributes much of his go-getting positive attitude and success to. The issues surrounding his adoption and upbringing must have had a serious effect on him, as he has been shown to have a great passion for the subject on the multitude of occasions that the topic has been brought up.

Acting as his adoptive mother, Foxx’s grandmother pushed him hard to become the man that he would later grow to be, persuading him to participate in all manner of activities that he may not have been afforded an opportunity to participate in otherwise. One thing of note she constantly encouraged him to do, was play the piano, a skill that she believed would serve to act as a “way out”, should he need it.

When she passed away, he reminisced about his close relationship with her, more like that of a best friend, commenting that of all the people that knew him, only she and she alone knew him best.

How is his Relationship With his Mother now?

His relationship with his mother has progressed quite far since the days that she was unable to care for him, with Foxx even revealing that she has been living together with him in the same house for quite a while, along with his father. Foxx apparently extended an offer to his mother to visit him over the Christmas period, an offer which resulted in her staying with him for far longer than expected. All signs point to a fantastic relationship between the two, even adding her ex-husband into the mix, with all three of them living together despite the divorce.

Foxx fondly jokes about the fact that his father still brings dates home, leading to him having to mediate between the divorced pair, but still describes it as being a “weirdly fun household”.

This relationship with his father was in fact a large part of one of the roles that he accepted, the character of Walter McMillian in the movie Just Mercy. His father was incarcerated unjustly for 7 years. It was this that sparked the beginning of the living arrangement he would soon come to have, as he sent his father a letter while he was in prison promising to rescue him from the situation he was in when he was finally released from prison.

It’s many years on from that now, and Foxx kept his promise, still living with the two and keeping as close as possible with his family, whom he holds very dearly.

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