The actor says help from his ancestors and thoughts of his then 3-month-old daughter helped him win a battle for his life.

Aquaman star Jason Momoa nearly drowned while surfing: ‘My body stopped’

The actor says help from his ancestors and thoughts of his then 3-month-old daughter helped him win a battle for his life.

By Ryan Coleman

Published on August 12, 2025 05:55PM EDT

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Jason Momoa as Aquaman in 'Aquaman'. Credit:

Jasin Boland/Warner Bros.

Off screen, the sea has no master.

*Aquaman *star Jason Momoa learned that lesson the hard way while attempting a miles-long paddle through ferocious Hawaiian waters and nearly not coming back up.

"I was doing this paddle, we went in at Jaws," Momoa detailed on Monday's new episode of the *Smartless *podcast, referring to the nickname for Pe'ahi, Maui's biggest surf break. "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."

Cohost Sean Hayes asked the former screen god of the sea, *Baywatch* lifeguard, and scion to a legendary Hawaiian surfing family if a "protocol of what to do in that moment" kicked in when he sensed he was in true danger.

Jason Momoa as Aquaman in 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'.

Warner Bros Pictures/DC Comics

"I was trained pretty well, so I was fine," Momoa responded. "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. And it's actually this place is called 'S--f---s' because there's all this water that pulls out and of a channel there, [and] you just get hit with these waves."

Momoa recalled that he was fine, until he wasn't.

"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 recounted. "I had my paddle and I was waving it and they couldn't see me, and the waves were so big. 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---.'"

Jason Momoa filmed 'Chief of War' against the backdrop of active volcanoes

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Things got worse before they got better. "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 after, you know, I was out there for a while... My body stopped. Like I couldn't move my arms anymore, and I bubbled down. Then my my toe hit the outer reef. I literally gave up, and I'm screaming inside."

Finally, one of Momoa's surf buddies located him, but their shared fight for survival was only just beginning. "I get back on the board and we start paddling. He's like, 'You got to go out,' so we just keep paddling out."

Currents prevented the men from making a beeline to the shore, and "brutal waves" cause them both to lose their boards. "I have seven more miles to paddle. My feet are covered in blood, and I'm just literally [with] my ancestors just paddling the rest of this way, head down, and we get out."

Jason Momoa in 'Baywatch Hawaii'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Momoa eventually made it to shore, but the experience had a profound, lasting effect on him. "I used to smoke two, three packs a day. I couldn't stop for my kids, I couldn't stop for my ex, I couldn't stop smoking. And the moment I came out, I never smoked again. Like, I just died. I tried and tried, but I couldn't do it again because I just gave up. Like, I gave up my life."

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The Hawaii native won that battle with the sea, and recently tussled with another elemental force: fire. While filming Apple TV+'s new historical series *Chief of War*, Momoa had to brave the lava fields of Kalapana, and even an eruption of the famed volcano Kīlauea.**

"I just knew that the volcano was going to go off, and everybody laughed at me and didn't believe me,” Momoa he told * *earlier this month. "You're obviously stirring up a lot of spirits and mana. It was unbelievable, but there was a really positive energy."****

You can listen to Momoa's full interview on the *Smartless *podcast above.

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Source: “AOL Celebrity”