Chuck Norris is one of those celebrities whose life in the spotlight isn't all that far removed
from the life he really lives.
That makes it super hard to separate Chuck Norris the man, from Chuck Norris the myth.
Until now.
Here are some false facts about Chuck Norris you always thought were true.
He's not a Texas Ranger
Sure, he played a Texas Ranger on the hit TV show Walker, Texas Ranger and Lone Wolf
McQuade.
But you probably didn't know that he's an actual Texas Ranger in real life.
True, unlike his characters, Norris has probably never actually stopped a gunfight by driving
a buried truck out of the ground.
[truck sound]
But former Texas governor Rick Perry named Walker an honorary captain in the Texas Rangers
back in 2010.
“People may whisper about his super powers, but let me tell you, the greatest power of
Chuck Norris is his integrity.”
Now you know why they always say, Don't Mess with Texas.
He's married to Christie Brinkley
For years, Norris has been appearing with model Christie Brinkley in promotional videos
for the Total Gym.
“Hi, I’m Chuck Norris.”
“And I’m Christie Brinkley.”
“For the past two years, you’ve seen Christie and me talking about the Total Gym.”
For some reason, this has led many people to assume the two are married.
Well, they aren't and never have been.
In fact, Norris has been married twice.
He's currently married to Gena Norris, who's even appeared with Chuck in those same Total
Gym videos.
Just because she's blonde and working out, doesn't mean she's Christie Brinkley, guys!
He's only a badass on TV
A lot of movie stars look tough on screen, but most of them are just acting like badasses.
Chuck Norris, on the other hand, did it the other way around, parlaying his fame as a
professional karate world champion into a movie career.
According to Norris, he was the "six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight
Karate Champion" starting in 1968, which eventually led to his breakthrough film role opposite
fellow martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
[HU-WAAHH]
He's a natural-born Texan
When people think of Chuck Norris, they think of Texas, which tends to happen when you're
known for characters who rock cowboy hats and giant, shiny belt buckles as Texas Rangers
in both TV and film.
So there's wide a demographic of folks who naturally assume he's from the Lone Star state.
But Norris hasn't always been a Texan.
In fact, the man the world knows as Chuck Norris was actually born Carlos Ray Norris
on March 10, 1940—in Ryan, Oklahoma.
But Norris has since moved south of the border, and now resides on a ranch near Houston.
Sorry, Sooners!
He's a natural-born athlete
You might assume someone as accomplished as Norris was just naturally gifted, but according
to Norris, he's a self made man who became a legend through hard work.
He told The New York Times that in school, he was bullied because his father was Cherokee.
"There were taunts by kids about being a half-breed.
I had very low self-esteem.
And I used to daydream about being strong and being able to handle myself.
To beat up the bullies."
After high school, though, he joined the military and was sent to Korea, where he began studying
Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo, building up his mind and body to the point where nobody would
ever be able to bully him again.
He's all brawn and no brain
Yeah, he's tough — that's what's made him famous.
But Chuck Norris also has an active mind, and he's not shy about speaking it.
In fact, he has written roughly two to three opinion articles a week for the Christian-conservative
website WorldNetDaily, where he shares his sometimes controversial views on American
life.
He loves Chuck Norris jokes
Sure, Norris has made his peace with the whole "Chuck Norris Facts" internet meme, even sanctioning
his own official "facts" book in 2009.
But he wasn't always so cool with it.
Back in 2007, in fact, Norris even filed a lawsuit against against Brown University student
Ian Spector, who'd tapped into the craze by publishing The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400
Facts About the World's Greatest Human.
Norris eventually dropped the lawsuit, saying in his book that, "I love to laugh, as do
most people."
Spoken like someone with a true sense of humor.
“You were bitten by a king cobra?”
“Yeah, I was.
But after five days of agonizing pain, the cobra died.”
His best days are behind him
Between his infomercials and opinion blogs, you might have the impression that Norris's
days as a fighter and actor are in the past.
But even in his 70's, Norris is still setting out to prove that his best days aren't behind
him.
Though his competitive fighting career is long over, Norris continues to develop his
patented Chuck Norris System, an open-source martial arts style that cherry picks philosophy,
training, and fighting techniques from other martial arts.
And though he has only appeared in one film since 2005, he's attached to the upcoming
anti-poaching action flick Blood Brothers.
So don't count Norris out just yet.
Because we all know what happens to people who underestimate Norris.
“And this one’s from me.”
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