Jenifer Lewis, the celebrated stage, film, and television actress, is set to be honored by the St. Louis Walk of Fame on Saturday, July 13. This recognition comes nearly two years after she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The timing of the St. Louis celebration is no coincidence, as it aligns with “Jackie Washington Day,” a fictional holiday from her cult-classic Lifetime film “Jackie’s Back.” The Webster University alumna is among the few who have stars in both Hollywood and St. Louis.
Lewis expressed her deep connection to the St. Louis honor, stating, “I really don’t want to compare the two. 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.”
Despite her usual humor, Lewis’s gratitude is underscored by a life-altering experience she had while vacationing in Africa. Shortly after receiving her Hollywood star, Lewis and a friend were enjoying the Serengeti when she decided to take in the surroundings before bed. This decision led to a near-fatal fall from her balcony in the pitch-black night, as she couldn’t see the unsecured area.
“Something happens to you when you look death in the face,” Lewis reflected. “When you literally take your head out of the lion’s mouth.” True to her comedic nature, she added, “You couldn’t make this [expletive] up. 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.”
The fall left Lewis unable to perform her famous six-o-clock kick for five months. When she appeared on the hit Fox show “The Masked Singer” months later, she had to perform in a harness bolted to the floor due to her inability to move her lower body independently. Her goal was to regain her kick, a symbol of her physical alignment and core strength.
Lewis’s recovery journey was arduous. She performed her signature song “Dig A Little Deeper” from Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” on “American Idol” in May, ending with a high kick that symbolized her triumphant return. “I took it all the way up, girl,” she 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.’”
Her third book, tentatively titled “Get Up,” encapsulates her recovery mantra. After the fall, she could only move her left arm and was in excruciating pain. “It hurt me to breathe,” she recalled. “I had to make my lips very small to suck in as much air as possible to scream for my friend.”
A Massai warrior and a team from Doctors Without Borders came to her rescue, airlifting her from Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya. There, she learned she had fractured her acetabulum, the hip bone socket. Dr. Parmenas Oroko at Aga Khan University Hospital performed a nine-hour surgery to replace her acetabulum with titanium. Lewis spent six days in the ICU and underwent three blood transfusions.
Reflecting on her recovery, Lewis said, “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 emphasized the importance of love and gratitude, stating, “I learned that love is the only answer. Love is the answer to everything. And to honor that light in yourself – and walk in gratitude.” She also discovered her definition of grace during her recovery. “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,” she explained. “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.”
Returning to St. Louis as a star and a survivor, Lewis aims to inspire the next generation. “My success is that I have a big smile on my face – because I did the work,” she 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.
Source: The St. Louis American
