“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about you,” the actor wrote on Instagram on Saturday, Oct. 19
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Jamie Foxx is remembering his sister DeOndra Dixon on the anniversary of death.
The Baby Driver actor, 56, posted a touching message for DeOndra on Instagram on Saturday, Oct. 19. “There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about you,” he began his post, which featured pictures of Dixon, along with snapshots of the siblings together.
“We know that you are up in heaven shining down on us and guiding us in the spirit of joy and happiness,” he continued. “Miss you sis. I love you.”
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Dixon, who was born with Down syndrome, died in 2020. “My beautiful loving sister Deondra has transitioned,” Foxx wrote on Instagram at the time. “I say transitioned because she will always be alive… anyone who knew my sis… knew that she was a bright light.”
Dixon was a longtime participant in the Special Olympics, starting in the sixth grade, and served as an ambassador for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. After she graduated high school in 2002, she moved from Texas to California to live with Foxx and their sister Deidra.
Dixon was also passionate about dance, writing in her Global Down Syndrome Foundation biography, “I want to be a professional dancer.” She made an appearance in Foxx’s “Blame It” music video in 2009 and performed onstage at his concerts. In 2020, she joined him at the Grammy Awards.
Throughout her lifetime, Foxx was a constant advocate for Dixon and continues to be one for the Down syndrome community. Following his sister’s death, Foxx and his family created the DeOndra Dixon Research Fund in her honor in November 2020. The fund’s aim is to “focus on the often neglected population of African Americans with Down syndrome.”
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In August 2018, Foxx spoke about the positive impact that Dixon had in his life. “I learned how to live,” he said during an episode of Dateline.
“Sometimes we get caught up in our world on the extras of everything — ‘Ah, the Mercedes is not the right color!’ ” he continued. “And then you see this girl over here, ‘I just want to live. I want to dance. I want to love.’ So she brings you back down to what life is.”