“Bigger Than the F**king Beatles”: Bruce Lee’s Life Changed After the Release of His Iconic Film in 1971

By the start of the 1970s, Bruce Lee began to climb the ladder of fame and success in Hong Kong. It was the kind of life that the master had always worked for. His first super hit film in his country, The Big Boss, in 1971, gave him his much-desired breakthrough in the Chinese and American film industry. Moreover, after his rise as a film star, his life was never the same as before. 

In his biography, Bruce Lee: A Life, author Mathew Polly revealed the drastic changes Lee faced in his life after becoming a superstar in Hong Kong. 

Bruce Lee began to feel pressurized due to his fame 

After the success of The Big Boss, Lee shot to fame in Southeast Asia. The film did a spell-binding business of $50 million which was five times more than its original $100,000 budget. It became the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong until lee’s second film, Fist of Fury, was released the next year. Initially, Lee was overwhelmed by the fame and attention that he was receiving in public. He would brag about it to his friends in LA saying, “In Hong Kong, I’m bigger than the fucking Beatles.” However, within a year, the master began to understand why famous personalities avoided visiting public places. 

‘In less than a year, however, the pressures and burdens of extreme fame were beginning to wear him down”, author Mathew Polly described Lee’s situation in his biography. The newly famous actor could not walk peacefully on the streets of Hong Kong. In fact, if he had to go shopping, the star had to be besieged to avoid any kind of disturbance. In fact, when Lee went to restaurants, people would press their faces against the windows to stare at him.

Read More: “The Word Superstar Really Turned Me Off”: Bruce Lee Once Admitted to a Bitter-Sweet Feeling After Gaining Instant Popularity

Apart from these events, Lee also experienced a darker side of his famous life. In an interview, Lee revealed that he once randomly received a HK$200,000 cheque.

Here’s what Bruce Lee did with the random cheque 

After the success of his second film, Fist of Fury in 1972, Lee’s stardom touched the sky. However, it brought several new experiences for him. During an interview with the Fighting Stars (an American martial art magazine), the master opened up about receiving a HK$200,000 cheque from a stranger.

He revealed random people stopped by his door and passed him the cheque as a gift once. He confessed that he did not know these people and could not take cash as a gift. Therefore, he destroyed the cheque. After the scary incident, he increased the security of his family and himself. 

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