After breaking into worldwide superstardom with Lethal Weapon 4, Jet Li became one of
cinema's most renowned martial arts stars.
From sham marriages to global disasters to the rumors around his health, here's the untold
truth of Jet Li.
In 1973, the legendary actor and director Bruce Lee passed away under mysterious circumstances,
leaving China, America, and the rest of the movie-loving world in shock.
The following year, the 11-year old Jet Li was performing a kung fu demonstration in
Hong Kong when he was approached by a movie producer and asked how he felt about becoming
the next Bruce Lee.
Speaking to TalkAsia in 2003, Li recalled the encounter.
He said:
"When [the] movie studio producer [talked] to me, [he said] 'Hi, little kid, when you
grow up, [do] you want to become [an] action star?
I [said], 'Okay, why not!'
So since then, every year the producer came to me to look at me.
[He would say], 'Okay, you are still a little boy, [you] can't make [movies].
I want to wait [for] you.'"
Although he had greatly admired Bruce Lee, as a young boy Jet Li couldn't imagine that
his name would ever be mentioned in the same breath as the martial arts star.
Li added:
"I remember I found him very talented, a very talented actor and martial artist.
But I [didn't] know how to make [movies] [...] I was just 11."
Jet Li had turned 17 by the time the producer decided he was ready to make his debut feature
film.
He was cast in Shaolin Temple, the first in a series of movies that established him as
a star in China.
1974 turned out to be quite the eventful year for Li.
Not only did the 11-year-old find him catching the interest of Chinese movie studios, but
he also got to perform in front of the U.S. president.
Li and the Chinese national Wushu team were invited to the White House, where they put
on a show for Richard Nixon.
Nixon wasn't exactly popular at the time, and after he saw what Li could do, he apparently
offered him the job of protecting him.
According to We Are The Mighty, the president jokingly asked if Li would consider becoming
his personal muscle once he was old enough to work.
Li's reply is said to have left those in attendance stunned.
He allegedly insisted:
"No, I don't want to protect any individual.
When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!"
The silence that fell over the room was broken by then-Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger,
who quipped:
"Heavens, such a young boy and he already speaks like a diplomat."
During his candid 2003 interview with TalkAsia, Li was asked if there was any truth to the
rumors that his hotel room had been bugged during his first visit to the United States.
The Nixon administration were found to have frequently spied on their political rivals
using hidden mics, and the Chinese government were apparently very wary about sending the
Wushu team on a tour of America, knowing that they could potentially be targeted for information.
They were so wary, in fact, that they warned the traveling team members to be careful about
what they said at all times, including when they were in the privacy of their hotel rooms.
During his interview, Li confirmed:
"It's true.
At that time, China and America [had] just started [a] relationship between the two countries.
It is so funny!
When I went there I wanted to try [to see if] they have a bug or not.
So in New York, [in] a big hotel, I talked to the mirrors."
Li claims that he said out loud that he would really like some chocolate and ice cream.
To his surprise, the treats he had wished for in his private quarters miraculously materialized.
"I opened the door, anything I asked on the table.
I thought ‘wow, it’s true’, it's fun!"
Li's first appearance in a Hollywood movie was as the villain in 1998's Lethal Weapon
4, but he wasn't used to playing a bad guy at the time.
He got his chance to play the hero in western cinema two years later when he was cast as
the male lead in 2000's Romeo Must Die, starring opposite Aaliyah.
Like Li, the R&B singer-turned-actress was trying to earn her stripes in Tinseltown.
Sadly, she died before she really got the chance to establish herself.
On August 25th 2001, the 22-year-old boarded a small plane headed to Miami, but the aircraft
would never reach its destination, having been dangerously overloaded before take-off.
Aaliyah, as well as her staffers and the crew of the aircraft, were all killed.
When Li later returned to Vancouver, where Romeo Must Die had been filmed, he found it
difficult to be back there.
He told IGN:
"I have some memories of this very beautiful city but it still makes me think about Aaliyah.
We worked together here for a few months.
She was such a talented girl and some locations when you pass by every day, you still think
about her."
Romeo Must Die didn't exactly blow the critics away, but Li was considered one of the movie's
highlights.
The box office numbers were a little more convincing, however.
The film managed to rake in $91 million worldwide from a budget of $25 million, which was seen
as a pretty decent haul at the time.
All things considered it was a success for Li, who felt so comfortable with his future
prospects that he went on to turn down a role in the Matrix sequels.
Speaking to TalkAsia, the star explained that he had to make a choice between The Matrix
sequel, for which he was reportedly offered the part of Seraph, and Zhang Yimou's Hero.
Li mused:
"Sometimes you get something and sometimes you lose something."
Li claimed to be a fan of the Wachowskis, but added that he wasn't a fan of what the
sibling directors did to the action genre.
Li explained:
"After The Matrix, everybody [did] action [movies] with people fighting while flying
around.
Suddenly everyone can fight.
Man can [fight], girl can [fight], little boy can [fight], even [cartoons] can do the
same thing.
In this movie, everyone really can [fight]."
His decision to favor Hero over The Matrix sequels paid off, however, as the Chinese
wuxia film won widespread approval — while The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions
fizzed out with critics.
“Woah.”
After his breakthrough in America, Li found himself spending more and more time in the
United States.
He decided that it made sense to apply for American citizenship, which he was duly granted.
But he renounced both his American and Chinese citizenship in 2009 in order to move to Singapore,
which doesn't generally allow for dual citizenship.
The actor reportedly spent around $15 million on a swanky three-floor property and moved
his family to the tax-friendly island, following in the footsteps of Facebook co-founder Eduardo
Saverin and fellow martial arts movie legend Jackie Chan.
The fact that he likely pays half of the amount of tax he would be paying in the States was
surely a factor in Li's move, but according to Nomad Capitalist, Singapore's excellent
education system also influenced Li's decision.
But how did the people of China take the news?
Traditionally, Chinese celebrities that ditch the homeland for Singapore are dubbed traitors
and take a major hit to their reputation, but strangely enough this didn't happen with
Li.
According to the South China Morning Post, polls revealed that only half of the Chinese
citizens asked about Li leaving China objected to it, with one fan even suggesting that they
would like to do the same.
That blogger wrote:
"It's [his] right to live where [he] wants to.
If I could, I will follow suit.
[Singapore's] passport is better."
Rumors that Li was in grave health spread like wildfire in 2018 after a photo of the
actor looking old and seemingly frail went viral, forcing his manager to respond.
Steven Chasman told USA Today that the story was a lot of worrying over nothing, and Li
was simply in a bad light when he posed for a quick snap with a fan.
Chasman said:
"It's one picture and people are making these interpretations from it.
If you took a picture [of] me at the wrong angle and wrong time of the day, I could look
frail as well."
Fans were quick to blame Li's grave new look on his hyperthyroidism, which he had been
diagnosed with in 2010.
While Li has been able to keep the condition under control using medication, his health
has often become a cause for concern among fans.
In 2016, Li said:
"The web has been abuzz with news that I'm going to be wheelchair-bound.
Even my friends are concerned and are asking how I am."
The action star has also joked that a wheelchair company had been spreading the rumors to boost
sales.
"And there was one medical appliance company who came to me and asked me to endorse their
wheelchair."
He went on to reassure fans that he was a-okay, saying:
"There is nothing to worry about my health."
Li looked capable as ever in behind-the-scenes footage from a 2017 short film, and Disney
is clearly confident in the actor's health, as the Mouse House has cast him in its upcoming
live-action remake of Mulan.
The devastation caused by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami can't easily be understated.
On December 26th, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake shook the seabed off the coast of Sumatra,
Indonesia, sending 40-foot waves hurtling towards land.
In the end, a staggering 230,000 people lost their lives across 14 different countries,
one of which was the Maldives.
Li and his family were vacationing on one of the 26 ring-shaped atolls that make up
the South Asian republic when the tsunami struck, and they had a very close and very
lucky escape.
During a Hong Kong fundraiser, Li recalled:
"The waves came really quickly and formed swirls.
I carried my daughters and pulled my maid and ran.
I'd only walked three steps when I realized that the water had already come up to my waist."
In a matter of seconds, the idyllic setting had turned into something out of a nightmare.
Li continued:
"When I looked back, everything I saw minutes ago was gone.
Everything was surrounded by the ocean.
The houses collapsed.
I continued to run but the water was already up to my mouth."
Luckily, Li, his family and his maid all survived to tell the tale, which is apparently exactly
what the actor intends to do.
In 2017, reports suggested that he was planning to star in a film about the tsunami, as part
of a Chinese-Indonesian co-production.
Surviving the tsunami changed Li's outlook on life.
The actor had an epiphany following the disaster, deciding that he wanted to dedicate himself
to philanthropy after being deeply moved by the treatment he and his family received from
total strangers.
If it weren't for the actions of four brave men who swam to Li's aid after he screamed
for help, his two youngest daughters would have likely drowned.
He later explained:
"The experience of surviving the chaos and witnessing the devastation caused by this
natural disaster has changed me forever.
During the recovery period in the Maldives, I was deeply moved to see that everyone who
was able to help willingly pitched in.
Never once did anyone ask, 'Where are you from?' or 'What nationality are you?'
I wondered: was it possible to keep that spirit alive and transcend traditional boundaries
to help humanity at large?"
The whole ordeal put life into perspective for him.
"I had spent the first 41 years of my life thinking about Jet Li first, wanting to prove
I was special, wanting to prove I was a star."
So Li set up his own charitable foundation.
He said:
"I realized that all the money and power in the world would not have saved me from the
water.
That night I decided I couldn't wait until I was retired; I had to do something right
away."
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