"I couldn't remember how to walk": Black-ish actress Jenifer Lewis opens up about recovering after falling 10ft from a balcony 

In an episode of the Tamron Hall Show, which aired on April 5, Jenifer Lewis, 67, revealed she couldn't remember how to walk after a horrific incident of falling 10 feet of a balcony during a vacation in Africa in late 2022.

"In Nairobi when they asked me how to walk, you know the parallel bars? I couldn't remember how to walk. I couldn't remember how to put one foot. I didn't even... I couldn't remember what to do! he said, 'Mum, mum, you must walk here now. Come. Walk here.' I was like, 'How do you do that?'"

Jenifer Lewis, while fighting back tears, revealed that she sat down in the wheelchair and sobbed when she heard herself say:

"'You'll get up. You'll get up and you'll walk, or I'll kill you myself. Now get up. Get up. You get up and you walk. Come on baby.' And I walked."

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What happened to Jenifer Lewis in Africa?

Jenifer Lewis was in Serengeti on an African getaway with her friends in November 2022, where she visited South Africa and Rwanda. After she checked into the hotel, she was walking by the room's private infinity pool in pitch black light when she fell 10 feet deep into a dry ravine full of boulders and sharp rocks.

Jenifer Lewis opens up about her fall in Africa (Image via Getty)

During an interview with Robin Roberts last month, the actress revealed:

"It was not safe. If you're on a deck, there should be no opening for you to fall, whether it's pitch black or pure sunshine. It was an unsafe deck. There was a dim light on the deck and had there been just a 10-ft. drop sign, a small caution sign...there was nothing."

She revealed that landing on the ground was unbelievable since she didn't realize she was falling. Lewis explained that everything hurt and she couldn't move her body and was coughing in the dirt.

Lewis then called her friend Laurie, who helped her get medical help. While she was on the ground, she could hear a lion's roar and also spot a Cape buffalo. She explained that she could imagine the headlines while lying on the ground:

"My last thought, because I am Jenifer Lewis, was, what a headline; The king ate the queen. Pieces of Jenifer Lewis' body being flown back to the states."

Lewis was rescued by 'A Doctors Without Borders' team and airlifted to Kenya for treatment. She was then taken to Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi where she received a nine hour surgery by Dr. Parmenas Oroko.

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Jenifer Lewis talks about her recovery after the fall

While talking about her recovery journey post-fall, Jenifer Lewis said that the one thing she missed the most was laughing. The Black-ish star explained that it hurt to laugh, and she had been laughing so much on the trip before the incident.

While talking to Yahoo Movies, Jenifer also revealed that the kindness of the hospital staff and kids who'd stopped by her room lifted her spirits.

"They treated me like I was a precious newborn. The way they handled me, they picked me up with such care. They were beautiful people."

Lewis eventually returned to the United States and spent four days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA before transferring to the California Rehabilitation Institute for two weeks. She then received ten months of at-home physical therapy.

Lewis shared a clip on her Instagram handle on March 23, revealing why she didn't reveal news about her fall earlier, saying, "I didn't want chall to know I had fallen, until I was able to tell you HOW I GOT UP! So when, where, or however you fall...get the f#@k up!!"