Jason Momoa has revealed that he practically drowned whereas browsing in his native Hawaii, main him to give up smoking.
The “Chief of Battle” star, in an look on the “Smartless” podcast with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, recalled going to the famend massive wave browsing break Pe’ahi (Jaws) in Maui when — whereas nearly a mile offshore — the leash linked to his surfboard snapped.
“It’s so windy on Maui, and so the board simply went. I couldn’t even see it anymore,” mentioned the actor, who had paddled 13 miles down the coast with buddies on the time.
Momoa, who needed to be a surfer rising up and who hails from a household of celebrated surfers and watermen, mentioned he “skilled fairly nicely” for such conditions, however he “took fairly a couple of” to the pinnacle as 10-foot excessive waves rolled in.
“It’s truly, this place is known as Shitfucks, and it’s actually as a result of there’s all this water that pulls out … and it simply pulls you out and also you simply get hit with these waves,” he defined.
“So I used to be caught on this loopy spot, which might be the outer reef, and unknown to me, I used to be actually on the outer reef, and so they couldn’t see me, and I had my paddle, and I used to be waving it, and so they couldn’t see me. And the waves have been so massive, it mainly took my shorts off they have been so fucking massive.”
Momoa famous that he started to think about his daughter, who was 3 months outdated on the time, and he was unable to maneuver his legs and arms.
“Like I actually gave up, and I’m screaming inside, and my foot simply hits the outer reef. And I don’t know if it was a fucking whale or like simply could possibly be one rock, however I simply reached down, grabbed it, I leap up, I get hit by one other wave,” he mentioned.
“I dig my ft into the coral, and I’m actually in the course of the ocean, and I’m simply, I may barely put my lips above it simply to breathe and get a break, however I had already given up. So it’s like, you’ve already given up and died and have a second probability at it.”
He mentioned one in all his buddies got here to the rescue, however it was “brutal” getting out to security, including that his ft have been “lined in blood.”
Momoa mentioned he used to smoke two to 3 packs of cigarettes a day earlier than the expertise.
“I couldn’t cease for my children, I couldn’t cease for my ex, I couldn’t quit smoking,” he mentioned.
“The second I got here out, I by no means smoked once more. I simply died. I simply died. I attempted and tried, however I couldn’t do it once more as a result of I simply, I gave up. Like, I gave up my life.”