Jamie Foxx has paid a heartbreaking tribute to his friend Keith Jefferson, who has died after a battle with cancer.
Keith, an actor and voiceover artist who began working with Jamie in the 1990s but whom he met when they were students together at the United States International University in San Diego, was called "absolute grace," by Jamie, 55, who shared a series of pictures on Instagram of the two together.
"This one hurts. Keith, you’ve been nothing but absolute grace, your whole life your heart is pure your love is immeasurable you were an amazing soul. We will all miss you dearly. It’s gonna take a long time for this to heal. Goodbye, my friend. I love you," he wrote.
In a second post, he added: "Everything hurts right now having a hard time looking through these pictures reliving the memories of us having a great time going to miss you man gonna miss you…ever since we met back in college, you have been an incredible soul. God rest, NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE TO SEE THE WORDS ABOUT MY FRIEND RIP @keith.jefferson."
Keith shared news of his diagnosis on August 9, with a picture of him in a hospital bed.
"Every now and then God will give you a challenge and leave it up to you to fix it. When I was first diagnosed with cancer I had to stop, pause, and didn’t want to share with anyone. Not my family nor extended family," he admitted.
"Today I’m finally at a place to share because my faith is getting stronger. I have a loving family and the best friends in the entire world. You know who you are."
Keith went on to thank his mom and Jamie and "everybody in between".
"I love you wholeheartedly. We are cut from the same cloth and that cloth is the human condition. Remember…'faith is the last thing you can lose.' I’m not about to lose that."
In another post, shared later that month, he thanked Jamie and friend Rodney Mason, writing: "When I say the admiration I have for my friends is unmatched. My heart will never lie."
Keith also worked with Jamie and Quentin Tarantino on 2012's Django Unchained, 2015's The Hateful Eight and 2019's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
His passing comes a week before his final film, The Burial, with Jamie and Tommy Lee Jones was set to be released in theaters.
"It’s finally here and what a blessing it was to work on this film with an amazing group of actors. Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones along with an all star cast and my most important role to date. The Burial opens Oct 13 nationwide," he captioned a post featuring the trailer.
The heartbreak for Jamie comes six months after he himself was hospitalized in April. In a candid and emotional video shared on Instagram in July, which can be viewed below, the 55-year-old star revealed he has "been to hell and back".
While he didn't reveal what had happened to him while filming Back in Action in Atlanta, he said his life had been saved by his sister, Deidra Dixon, and his daughter, Corinne, and also thanked God and "great medical people" for pulling him through.
"I cannot tell you how great it feels to have your family kick in in such a way and you know, they kept it airtight, they didn't let nothing out. They protected me," he said. "And that's what I hope everyone could have in moments like these."
He said he was aware that his fans were eager for updates but revealed that he did not "want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was gonna make it through".
In August he shared another video, admitting that he can finally "see the light" after months of dealing with his mystery illness.
"I'm thankful to everyone that reached out and sent well wishes and prayers… I have a lot of people to thank… u just don't know how much it meant… I will be thanking all of you personally.... and if you didn't know… GOD IS GOOD… all day every day," he said.