Jason Momoa has broken his bones, scratched his eyes, and everything in between – and
that's just all in a day's work.
Off hours, he's been in a bar fight so bad it left him permanently scarred – not that
that stopped him.
You should see the other guy.
Jason Momoa was born in Hawaii, but actually grew up in Iowa due to his parents' divorce.
Momoa explained to Star Advertiser:
"My mom made it over there [to Hawaii] in the '70s and met an amazing Hawaiian family
and had me."
Unfortunately, his parents' relationship simply didn't work out.
Because of that, Momoa had to move with his mother back to her native Iowa, away from
his father who remained there.
His father, Joseph Momoa, said:
"I explained to him when he got older that it's hard for a Hawaii boy to go up there
on the mainland, you get so homesick."
It seems Momoa was homesick as well, even though he spent summers in Hawaii before returning
for college.
Joseph recalled:
"I told him, you need to go and gain all this knowledge, and when you graduate you can come
back here."
It wasn't that Momoa didn't like Iowa.
He elaborated:
"There's just not a lot of diversity [...] And with no diversity you definitely have a singular
view of what the world is."
His mother also had a hard time making ends meet.
Momoa revealed to EW:
"My mom's a single mother, and she just couldn't afford a babysitter [...] She worked three
jobs."
Momoa is thankful for all her sacrifices, though, writing in an Instagram tribute to
her:
"God bless all the single mothers.
You are truly superheroes."
While it's hard to imagine "Aquaman" being bullied, Jason Momoa admitted he was tormented
as a kid and had a hard time fitting in.
He told InStyle that he was harassed by bullies because he stood out as the only mixed-race
kid in his school, explaining:
"I'm definitely a product of two very opposite worlds [...] I got beat up a lot.
Just for being slightly different — it was gnarly."
Momoa revealed that the other kids also teased him for his artsy, skateboarder style.
He recalled:
"I wore Birkenstocks in middle school, and it was like, 'You are a freak!'"
It probably didn't help that Momoa didn't have his famous bulging muscles yet, telling
EW another reason he was picked on was because:
"I was small [...] I graduated when I was 16.
So I was the youngest boy in my class."
He went on to clarify:
"I love Iowa, but I just didn't fit in.
If you're a Hawaiian kid in Iowa, you're kind of a fish out of water."
Yet, he apparently didn't have it any easier back in Hawaii, either.
When he returned to Hawaii, he confessed, he was ostracized there too.
Despite his difficult experiences in Iowa and Hawaii, Momoa claimed he loved both places,
and that having a foot in both worlds helped him grow up to forge his own path.
"I'm cool, man."
Jason Momoa's eyebrow scar may now just be seen as part of his ruggedly handsome look,
but the actor actually got the disfigurement as the result of a terrifying ordeal.
In November 2008, Momoa was at the Bird Cafe in Hollywood when he was violently assaulted
by another man during a bar fight.
He recalled to Access Hollywood:
"It was crazy.
A guy smashed a pint glass in my face."
Momoa went on to explain that his facial injuries were so bad that he had to get reconstructive
surgery, resulting in over 140 stitches on his face.
Now, because of that, he says one of his eyebrows no longer grows in at the spot that he was
slashed.
Yet, true to Momoa's style, he pointed out the bright side, saying:
"It helped get those mean roles."
He also dished to the New York Post he didn't mind how the scar from the fight impacted
his image, saying
"I got called 'pretty boy' my whole life [...] If anything, it's like, 'Good.'
It's not my thing now."
As for the other guy involved in the scuffle, Dominic Brando, he pleaded not guilty to assault
with a deadly weapon and suffered injuries to his hand that required 15 stitches.
His lawyer attempted to shift the blame, claiming, quote, "In every bar fight, there's a minimum
of two or three explanations about the events, and this is no exception."
Momoa himself believes the fight stemmed from a "gang initiation."
Jason Momoa struggled financially during and after his breakthrough role in "Game of Thrones."
In May 2019, Momoa shared a particular moment on his Instagram when he was, quote, "too
broke to fly home" on a break from filming the hit show.
In the caption, he put his trademark positive spin on the situation, saying,
"We rented a panel van aka UHAUL in Belfast and drove around beautiful amazing IRELAND
[...] It was the simplest moments I remember the most."
Despite the show's success, Momoa was still in a lot of debt, struggling to pay bills
and care for his family.
He recalled to InStyle:
"We were starving after 'Game of Thrones.'
I couldn't get work [...] It's very challenging when you have babies and you're completely
in debt."
Momoa believes that playing the role that made him famous, Khal Drogo, had pigeonholed
him into one kind of part.
He confessed to EW:
"For a while afterward, a lot of people bagged on me.
It hurt me a lot.
People thought I didn't speak English [...] They didn't know I was playing a role."
[speaking Dothraki]
Unfortunately, Momoa was all too familiar with not being able to work.
He recalled to InStyle that after he wrapped his debut show "Baywatch Hawaii" in 2001,
he moved to L.A. to continue to act, but wasn't able to land an agent for years.
It just goes to show how even massive stars like Momoa sometimes have to grind to make
it work in Hollywood.
Jason Momoa wasn't just seriously hurt in a bar fight; he's also sustained some pretty
bad injuries on his movie sets.
The father-of-two got pretty beaten up filming "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," revealing
on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show":
"I messed up my eyes.
I just got something in it that kinda cut it up, and then I've gotta get surgery."
He clarified that despite his scratched cornea, he's still able to see.
Yet that wasn't the only thing that happened to him.
He explained that he'd also suffered a hernia, suffered rib injuries, and just generally
gotten beaten up by the work.
The film's director, James Wan, also pointed out another painful thing Momoa had to deal
with during filming, telling USA Today about the swimming rig they had to place him in
when shooting certain scenes.
He explained:
"It puts a lot of pressure around the crotch.
So for someone like Momoa, who is more than 200 pounds, it's not the most pleasant experience."
The "Aquaman" sequel wasn't the first film that left Momoa with damage, either.
He posted on Instagram about how his past injuries include a broken femur, as well as
ankle, knee, and shoulder issues.
He dished:
"night shoots and me don't mix.
OOOOF.
i feel all those fights scenes when i was young and stupid."
These days, Momoa blames his wounds on "getting old."
He told Ellen:
"I love my job and I get a little too excited [...] I'm an aging superhero right now."
Jason Momoa may be beloved by millions, but there was one young "Aquaman" fan who especially
touched the actor's heart, named Danny Sheehan.
The 8-year-old went viral in November 2020 for his overjoyed reaction to receiving an
"Aquaman" action figure.
"Oh my gosh, my favorite one!"
"Aquaman!"
Sheehan had been fighting brain cancer at the time, so once Momoa got wind of the video,
he reached out to Sheehan personally on FaceTime.
Momoa posted videos of their chat on his Instagram, writing in the caption:
"I just wanted to say thank you to the community [...] for reaching out and showing me this
beautiful boy Danny who is going through chemo."
The actor included a link to Sheehan's Go Fund Me page and later sent him more "Aquaman"
merchandise.
It's clear Momoa had a special bond with Sheehan, which led to him feeling devastated over his
tragic death the following year.
Momoa took to his Instagram to pay tribute to Sheehan, sharing a photo of a mural of
them dressed as "Aquaman."
He expressed his sadness in the caption, writing:
"I just found out this heartbreaking news [...] Love u baby boy rest in piece You will
live in my heart I dedicate aquaman 2 to you lil angel."
Momoa also posted a TikTok for Sheehan to his Instagram story, which read:
"All I can say is what a privilege it is to be your friend [...] You are as bright as
the sun.
I'll always be awestruck by you."
Although Jason Momoa got to marry his childhood crush, "Cosby Show" star Lisa Bonet in 2017,
the relationship between the two sadly didn't last.
Momoa took to his Instagram to announce in January 2022 that they were "parting ways
in marriage," seemingly blaming changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement, they wrote:
"We have all felt the squeeze and changes of these transformational times [...] our
family is of no exception"
Momoa is presumably heartbroken that they couldn't make it work since he has previously
spoken about Bonet being his "dream girl" and that he'd been in love with her since
he saw her on TV as a kid.
He joked to James Corden about his childhood infatuation with her:
"Ever since I was eight years old, I saw her on the TV, and I was like, 'Mommy, I want
that one.'"
When the two did meet in 2005, Momoa said he felt "fireworks going off inside."
They went on to have a relationship that lasted 16 years.
Neither Momoa or Bonet immediately revealed what went wrong in their relationship.
It goes without saying that we're sure Momoa will find a way to see the brighter side of
things as time goes on.
With a perennially positive attitude like his, it's likely that his spirit is already
on the mend.
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