Whenever a celebrity is not seen for a lengthy amount of time people start making speculations. Also sometimes they resurface looking entirely different. Remember what happened with Renee Zellweger? Well, something like that happened with another Hollywood icon and now people are worried.
Whenever a celebrity stats away for long people also lose their connect to him or her. Showbiz has a strict out of sight out of kind policy. So if you aren't seen for a decade it's very hard making a comeback. Recently Hollywood legend Jet Li was spotted at an event and people couldn't help but notice how starkly different and almost sickly he looked. He looked a totally different person from his action star self. So what is wrong with Li?
Li is now 55-year-old. He is not just an icon but since would say he's better lived than Jackie Chan and some people even compare him to Bruce Lee. Li took the '90s by storm with films like Lethal Weapon The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and The Expendables. And he usually enjoys a low-key private life so people didn't question his absence from the limelight.
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Li was one of the biggest stars of this century and was very well paid. In fact, he is one of the very few stars to have made a substantial fortune and name in China and Hollywood. Do you know he was paid more than $7 million to appear in the science-fiction a took movie The One? This was an unthinkable amount back then.
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Jet Li took a hiatus from showbiz owing to his illness which is quite critical. In 2010 Li was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which made him drop out of his career mainly because he couldn't work on a regular basis. He once told a fan that though he lives out his days in constant pain he is not unhappy in life.
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It is a condition of the thyroid. It happens when the thyroid gland is producing excessive thyroid hormones. It can lead to a terrible weakness in muscles, sleep troubles, weight loss, intolerance of the heart. Li is also suffering from spinal problems owing to his long history of doing stunts.
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Li says that he is having issues with his body weight. He revealed recently that he has gained weight as he is taking his medications and can’t lose weight. He said the medicines are meant to stabilise his heartbeat. He also admitted that he can’t work out owing to his condition and his medication. Li said that his current resting heart rate was 130 to 140 beats per minute. Which is really high, considering a normal heart beats at a rate which is something between 60 and 100bpm.
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Li was recently pictured in Tibet eating dumplings, and he looked quite ill in the pictures. He also looked weaker than his usual self. His manager revealed that the photos shouldn’t worry his fans as they are just some pictures of a 55-year-old who has not been keeping well, but he is not in any critical duress.
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It has also been reported that Li cannot accept intense and high-powered roles anymore, which require him to perform aggressive stunts. So, the actor who currently lives in Singapore has been staying away from action roles, and has been focusing on himself.
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It has been reported that when he was first diagnosed with the disease, Jet Li dealt with it very strongly, and he did his best to beat it. In fact, his treatment was successful at first, but then as he was recovering, he relapsed.
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Li revealed that in 2013, doctors warned him that if he continues doing physically demanding films, he would end up in a wheelchair, and would be in worse shape in a few months. But Li confirms that he is in some pain but he is not in a wheelchair yet.
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It looks like Li is staying away from action films, for now, a genre which is almost solely responsible for his legacy. But he is obviously under medical compulsions. He is set to play a major role in the live-action Mulan film in 2020, but that wouldn’t require him to perform any stunts.
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Reportedly, he has been fighting the disease since 2010, but fans only noticed his ailing health recently. He was photographed visiting a Tibetan temple recently, where he posed for pictures with fans. His legion of fans couldn’t stop talking about how feeble the action star looked.
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Jet Li's manager, Steven Chasman, however, is wary of the shoddy journalism around his paparazzi pictures, He says fans are just sensationalizing the story around his health, and the pictures are just unflattering, not alarming. He also confirmed that his disease was not life-threatening.
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Did you know Li was once one of the highest paid actors in the world? He reportedly got 100 million yuan or $13 million for his role in the film The Warlords. Forbes even listed his name as one of the highest paid actors in the world.
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In 2004, Li and his family were vacationing in the Maldives and were hit by the deadly Tsunami. In fact his daughter was in serious danger and Li actually saved her life from the tumultuous storm.
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The good news is Jet Li is staying strong, and he actually admits he is not letting the pain get to him. And he actually insists that he feels great. He also thanked his fans for all their love and concern.
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