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Jason Momoa is known for playing “Aquaman” on screen, but in real life, he had a different kind of experience with the ocean.
The actor revealed he almost drowned during a harrowing 2007 surf trip off the coast of Maui, as he described the moment in chilling detail on Monday’s episode of the “SmartLess” podcast.
“I was doing this paddle, we went in at Jaws,” Momoa said, as he referred to the infamous Peʻahi surf break known for its massive, deadly waves. “We paddled like 13 miles down the coast. You’re kind of almost a mile offshore, and then my leash snapped. We’re about seven miles into it and my leash snapped, and it’s so windy on Maui.”
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Jason Momoa almost drowned while surfing at dangerous Jaws break in Maui. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Momoa, 46, continued to detail how the violent waves crashed around him, but his previous water training kept him afloat – for a while.
“I was trained pretty well, so I was fine,” he said. “I took quite a few on the head. They’re pretty big, like 10-foot Hawaiian waves. But I’m probably half a mile at that point offshore.”
The Hollywood star added that he reached a breaking point during the surf incident, which was nearly fatal.
“I was stuck in this crazy spot, which is probably the outer reef and unknown to me. I was really on the outer reef and they couldn’t see me,” he recalled. “I had my paddle and I was waving it and they couldn’t see me, and the waves were so big.”
And then, everything hit him at once — including the fear he wouldn’t make it back to his daughter, who was an infant at the time.
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Jason Momoa shares two children with ex-wife Lisa Bonet. (Gary Mitchell/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
When his thoughts turned to his daughter Lola Iolani, then 3 months old, the actor said, “I just lost it, I was like, ‘Oh s—.’”
At that moment, Momoa remembered being exhausted, drifting and alone. He felt that his survival instincts had failed.
“I was out there for a while, and I just couldn’t see anyone coming to get me. I couldn’t move anymore, and my arms and my legs gave up… My body stopped. Like I couldn’t move my arms anymore, and I bubbled down. Then my toe hit the outer reef. I literally gave up, and I’m screaming inside.”
When Momoa thought it was the end, a friend spotted him, and he had to continue to push through the rough waters.
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“Aquaman” star thought of his 3-month-old daughter Lola at the time when exhaustion hit during the 13-mile paddle. (Daniele Venturelli/Daniele Venturelli/ Getty Images for Fendi)
“I get back on the board and we start paddling,” he said. “He’s like, ‘You got to go out,’ so we just keep paddling out.”
The two were soon thrown from their boards by “brutal” waves and strong currents. With seven grueling miles still to go, Momoa was bleeding, battered and running on fumes.
“My feet are covered in blood,” he said. “And I’m just literally [with] my ancestors just paddling the rest of this way, head down and we get out.”
The Hollywood actor luckily made it to shore.
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Jason Momoa, Lisa Bonet agreed to joint legal and physical custody of their two children, daughter Lola and son Nakoa-Wolf. (Getty Images)
The “Baywatch” actor is currently dating actress Adria Arjona after the couple worked together in 2021’s “Sweet Girl.” Momoa and Arjona went public with their relationship in May 2024.
Momoa was previously married to “The Cosby Show” star Lisa Bonet. The two married in 2017 before splitting in 2020. Momoa and Bonet filed for divorce in January 2024.
The former couple agreed to joint legal and physical custody of their two children, daughter Lola and son Nakoa-Wolf. Bonet and Momoa agreed to “share the living expenses” of the minor kids and will not pay child support to one another, the court docs, obtained by Fox News Digital at the time, stated.
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