Action star, Jet Li, has opened up about a terrifying near-death experience during the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, revealing how the disaster transformed his outlook on life and inspired his humanitarian mission.
In his upcoming memoir, Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom, the “Mulan” and “Expendables 3” star recalled how he nearly lost his life while holidaying in the Maldives with his wife, Nina Li Chi, and their two daughters when giant waves suddenly struck the island.
Reflecting on the frightening ordeal, Li said he was standing in the ocean with his daughters when he noticed something unusual.
“Standing in the water while my daughters splashed and laughed, I saw huge waves in the distance. I thought, ‘What happened to the sea?’” he recalled.
The actor explained that the situation quickly turned chaotic as the tsunami waves surged toward the shore without warning.
“A real tsunami is nothing like in the movies. Without warning, the ocean quickens, and waves start whipping in suddenly,” Li wrote.
As panic spread, the martial arts legend said his only concern was protecting his children.
“My daughters seemed too small, too vulnerable, too easily at the mercy of the gathering waters,” he said.
Li recounted how the water rapidly rose to his neck, forcing him to lift one of his daughters onto his shoulders to keep her above the waves.
“Now the water was up to my neck, nearly at my chin. I hoisted my daughter up to sit on my shoulders,” he wrote.
Describing how close he came to death, Li added: “With total clarity, I was aware that the distance between life and death was only four inches between the rising water and my lips.”
At one point during the confusion, Li’s younger daughter and her caregiver were swept away by the rushing water, prompting desperate cries for help.
“In anguish, I started crying out, ‘Help! Help!’ gargling seawater between shouts,” he recalled.
Fortunately, the waves eventually receded and the family reunited safely.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami remains one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, killing an estimated 230,000 people across more than a dozen countries.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand were among the hardest-hit nations, while thousands were killed along Thailand’s Andaman coast alone.
Li said the tragedy profoundly changed his understanding of life and human nature.
“I saw the glorious altruistic side of human nature on display, capable of spontaneous sacrifice and compassion in the face of life and death,” he wrote.
The experience later inspired him to establish the One Foundation, a charity focused on disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
Li also admitted the trauma stayed with him for years and resurfaced while filming Ocean Heaven, a movie that explored themes of vulnerability, love and mortality.
“My awareness of impermanence had crashed over my life with the suddenness of an unexpected wave,” the actor reflected.
