Is the date a coincidence? Absolutely not. The stage, film and television actress and singer received her Hollywood star on “Jackie Washington Day,” the fictional holiday from her cult-classic Lifetime network film “Jackie’s Back.” Because July 15 lands on a Monday, the celebration in St. Louis is scheduled for Saturday, July 13. The Webster University alum is one of a very select few who has stars in both places.
“I really don’t want to compare the two,” Lewis said. “But The St. Louis Walk of Fame goes a little deeper because it’s home. I haven’t written my speech yet, but at the end of every paragraph there will be two words: thank you.”
Lewis was as hilarious as ever when she spoke to The American last week about the upcoming honor, even though the life-altering moment that magnified her constant state of gratitude was no laughing matter.
“Something happens to you when you look death in the face,” Lewis said. “When you literally take your head out of the lion’s mouth.”
But leave it to Jenifer Lewis to find the funny in fighting for her life.
“You couldn’t make this [expletive up],” Lewis said. “It wasn’t Daniel in the lion’s den, it was a diva in the lion’s den. The [expletive] wasn’t no joke. I fell ten [expletive] feet in pitch black.”
Not long after she received her Hollywood star, Lewis and a friend were vacationing in the Serengeti and having the time of their lives. She made the fateful decision to soak in her surroundings just before bed – and suffered a near-fatal fall, tumbling from her balcony. Because it was so dark, she couldn’t see that the area was unsecured.
“It’s a bad [b-word expletive] that can get up off the ground of the Serengeti after falling like that, you understand me,” Lewis said. “When the baboon jumps out the tree and asks for a selfie because he saw you on ‘Fresh Prince,’ then come talk to me.”
Known for her famous six-o-clock kick, Lewis could not perform the simple act of separating her knees for five months. When she participated in the hit Fox show “The Masked Singer” several months after the fall, Lewis had to perform while in a harness that was bolted to the floor because she couldn’t move her lower body on her own.
“Getting my kick back – that was the goal,” Lewis said. “Because if you can get your leg up that high, that means that your core is centered and your pelvis and that means that you are back aligned. You can’t kick that high if the core of your body is not straight and aligned.”
She performed her signature song “Dig A Little Deeper” from Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” alongside Terence Blanchard on an episode of “American Idol” seven weeks ago in May. She lifted her leg up as a grand finale, and Lewis could not have kicked any higher.
“I took it all the way up, girl,” Lewis said. “Right before I kicked, I looked out – and in my mind I’m telling the world, ‘You can get up. You can come back.’”
Recovering with grace
“Get Up” is the working title of Lewis’ third book. It’s what she repeated to herself while she was laying on the ground in Africa. She could only move her left arm. Every inch of her body was in pain.
“It hurt me to breathe,” Lewis said. “I had to make my lips very small to suck in as much air as possible to scream for my friend. I told her, ‘I done [expletive] up. We will not be taking the hot air balloon to watch the sun come up over the Serengeti.’
A Massai warrior came to their rescue before medical assistance arrived. Lewis had a special connection with the team of professionals who came to her aid.
“At the height of COVID, I sent Doctors without Borders the biggest check I had ever sent in my life – because during COVID, they were doing the work,” Lewis said. “That woman leaned down and said, ‘Ms. Lewis, we are Doctors without Borders and we are here to take you back.’ You want to talk about the circle of life – there they were, airlifting me out of the Serengeti grasslands.”
She was airlifted from Tanzania to Narobi, Kenya. She learned that she fractured her acetabulum – the socket of the hip bone that holds the femur in place.
Lewis was taken to Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi and treated by Dr. Parmenas Oroko. Her injury required a nine-hour surgery, where Oroko replaced her acetabulum with titanium. She spent six days in the ICU and endured three blood transfusions.
But that was just the beginning of her journey towards healing.
“After that fall – after this whole year and a half of being forced to be an observer of life from the bed as a human being as opposed to a human doing – You learn a lot of stuff. I have been made new from that fall.”
She learned a few very important lessons.
“I learned that love is the only answer. Love is the answer to everything,” Lewis said. “And to honor that light in yourself – and walk in gratitude.”
She was proud to share that she found her definition of grace while lying in her bed.
“Grace is the space between breaths that compels you to do more – to give more, to love more, to sing more and to give more,” said Lewis. “Grace is that space between breaths that gives you permission to take the next one. It helps you help somebody else. Whenever you don’t know what to do, go do something for somebody else.”
She will return home on Saturday not only as a star, but as a survivor seeking to inspire the next generation.
“My success is that I have a big smile on my face – because I did the work,” Lewis said. “I dreamed the dream and had a passion to honor the gifts that I have been given at birth. I want to say thank you to all those who believed in me. Thank you for telling me that I can be anything that I wanted to be.”
The St. Louis Walk of Fame induction ceremony for Jenifer Lewis will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 13th across from the Moonrise Hotel at 6166 Delmar Boulevard. For more information, visit stlouiswalkoffame.org