Bruce Lee Myths You Believe

There's no question that Bruce Lee was an extraordinary athlete, teacher, actor, and director. Even within the strictures of a 1960s TV series, The Green Hornet, his remarkable agility and grace are truly mesmerizing. Dying far too young, at only 32 years old, only adds to the icon's tragic mystique.

Along with the tragedy come stories, so many stories of a man whose reality was more than remarkable all by itself. As detailed in Matthew Polly's 2018 biography, Bruce Lee: A Life, there are still some myths about Lee that persist. Among them:

Lee didn't avoid alcohol because of discipline. The reality is that he didn't like to drink alcohol because it caused an unpleasant physiological reaction, which he shared with an estimated 35 percent of Asian people. After even a few sips, Lee would become flushed and nauseous, with sake as the only exception. He did, however, enjoy other substances, specifically cannabis.

After a long day of training at home, Lee would head out to the garage for a marijuana cigarette, eventually moving on to hashish, which he would reportedly carry with him in small bags and pouches to chew on throughout the day. When asked why he got high by a fellow martial artist, Lee replied,

"It raises the consciousness level."

Occasionally, that level was too high for training partners. Polly cites a judo expert who allegedly stopped training with Lee, quote, "because he was sick of all the pot smoke swirling around." Lee's surprisingly cavalier attitude towards pot also translated to his look, for a time, as he embraced a hippie aesthetic.

Lee was known to the world as a "kinetic genius", totally in touch with his body, a champion ballroom dancer able to quickly master any martial arts fighting style. There was only one obstacle in his way: learning to ride a bicycle. He was also declared medically unfit for the draft after failing his physical, perhaps for being too powerful? Jokes aside, Lee was human after all, a fact easy to forget in the wake of his ascension to mythical status.

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