Jenifer Lewis reveals she was 'still on morphine' while performing on The Masked Singer after near

Jennifer Lewis revealed she was 'still on morphine' while performing on The Masked Singer after suffering a near-fatal 10-foot fall in the Serengeti. 

While looking back on her time competing on Fox's singing competition, in which celebrities face off against each other in elaborate disguises, the Black-ish star, 67, revealed she was only five months into her recovery from her terrifying tumble.

The actress, who underwent nine hours of surgery and months of rehab and physical therapy to treat her injuries from the accident, recalled still being 'on morphine' during her stint on The Masked Singer.

Lewis, who was has been revealed as the voice behind Cleocatra on season 11 on Wednesday night, told TooFab that she noticed herself 'nodding off a little bit' during on episode. 

Jennifer Lewis revealed she was 'still on morphine' while performing on The Masked Singer after suffering a near-fatal 10-foot fall in the Serengeti (seem in 2019)

'I've been telling everybody, if you look carefully when I'm sitting on the throne, you'll see that Cleocatra head kind of go [mimics nodding off],' she told the outlet.

Despite being in pain, she recalls her friend telling her: 'Get up and go do what you love to do.' 

'Masked Singer was great. They knew I couldn't walk, so they had the boys escort me,' she said. 'The 'Stormy Weather,' I was bolted down in a harness. They bolted me down 'cause I couldn't walk.'

She continued: 'I was still on a walker, couldn't walk, but I could sing. And my soul was in the fun. And that's why my friends wanted me to get out of bed.' 

While recalling her accident in Africa, which took place in November 2022, she revealed that she was treated by Doctors Without Borders, which she given a 'huge donation' during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

'Talk about the circle of life,' she raved. 'So it is a triumphant testimony because I'm back baby.' 

In March, Lewis said she had feared she was going to be eaten alive by a lion when she fell over the deck outside her hotel room into a ravine. 

During an exclusive interview on Good Morning America, Jenifer told Robin Roberts that as she laid on the ground 'in shock', she heard a lion roar and started imagining being eaten alive and envisaged 'pieces' of her body 'being flown back to the States.' 

While looking back on her time competing on Fox's singing competition, in which celebrities face off against each other in elaborate disguises, the Black-ish star, 67, revealed she was only five months into her recovery from her terrifying tumble, which took place in November 2022

Somehow, Jenifer managed to call out to her friend Lori - who was staying in a separate hotel room nearby - but admitted to Robin that it was 'hard to even take a big breath to scream.'

Explaining that she was laying injured in the middle of the Serengeti, Jennifer said: 'There are wild animals, because when Lori shined her flashlight down there, she didn't know there was a Cape buffalo ten feet away. And when Lori ran to get help, I heard a lion roar.

'My last thought - because I am Jenifer Lewis - was, "what a headline!" she cackled, before continuing: '"The King ate the Queen... pieces of Jenifer Lewis' body is being flown back to the States", as host Robin looked on sympathetically.

As she recalled the night in question, Jenifer explained that she had been escorted to her lodge at the hotel claimed she 'wasn't given a tour' and feels she should have been given one.

'The sun set and when the sun sets in the Serengeti, there are no street lights, it is pitch black,' she said. 'I laid out my safari clothes and I saw the infinity pool out on my deck so I went out.

'I was just taking in the fact that I was back in the Serengeti once again, and I'm walking and all of a sudden... boom! I had fallen ten feet into a dry ravine full of boulders and stones and sharp rocks, Robin, I fell.' 

The actress, who underwent nine hours of surgery and months of rehab and physical therapy to treat her injuries from the accident, recalled still being 'on morphine' during her stint on The Masked Singer; seen in April 2024

Jenifer continued: 'There was a space that was not sectioned off and there was no sign that said: "Caution 10 feet drop," as Robin asked her what 'kind of pain' she was experiencing in that moment.

'Well, of course I was in shock. My right hip took the impact, my shoulder went up against the stone, a lightning bolt went through my mind's eye right here. In pitch black I didn't know I was falling and I said, "move your body, baby. Come on, Jenny, move."

Jenifer, who played the role of Ruby Johnson in popular TV sitcom Black-ish from 2014 until 2022, described the past year as 'the hardest' and revealed to Robin that she kept her fall - and recovery - a secret because: 'I didn't want y'all to know I had fallen until I could show you how I got back up.' 

Lewis, who was has been revealed as the voice behind Cleocatra on season 11 on Wednesday night, told TooFab that she noticed herself 'nodding off a little bit' during on episode (pictured in July 2022)

Robin explained to her co-hosts how her sit down interview with Jenifer came about at the end of last year.

'She needed that time for herself because people were like, "where's Aunt Jenny? Where's Aunt Jenny?"' Robin said, referring to Jenifer's private recovery.

'I mean she was not on social and it was Niecy Nash, end of last year I was getting ready for the holidays, Niecy called and said, "you need to talk to Jenifer Lewis, she's about to post this on social".

'And Niecy was like, "you can't just post something like this, you need to share it", and then she connected us to talk and I'm telling you, the special that we put together just makes you exhale, but it also makes you laugh because it's Jenifer Lewis.'