#13 Linda Lee Cadwell on Bruce Lee’s Family Life

In this week’s episode we have a special guest Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee’s wife and Shannon’s mom. Linda shares stories of her life with Bruce, how they first met and what it was like to be married to and in a partnership with him. She said that Bruce considered his greatest accomplishment was being a father. She describes what kind of father he was to Brandon and Shannon, and how his unusual schedule allowed him to spend more time with his kids than other fathers at the time. Every day was different for Bruce with teaching, traveling, training or filming. Linda shares some daily rituals that grounded Bruce—he drank tea with honey and ginseng every morning, and throughout the day to maintain his energy. We also discuss the unique path Bruce decided to take in his film career. After facing discrimination in Hollywood, he chose to go to Hong Kong to create his own production company and make the films he wanted to make. “You need to know yourself, you need to believe in yourself, you have to have faith in yourself.” This was a mantra that Bruce put into action in his career and in his life. Linda shares that Bruce used to say, “All knowledge is self-knowledge.” He was always in the process of learning about himself and becoming himself. Linda and Bruce were married in 1964, 3 years before the US Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage. #AAHA (Awesome Asians and Hapas) This week we give a shout out to DJ Qbert, Filipino American turntablist and composer. Suggested to us by a write in from a podcast listener, we want to recognize the awesomeness that is DJ Qbert. He’s been in the DJ game for a long time and started his career with group FM20 with Mix Master Mike and DJ Apollo in 1990. He innovated DJ turntable and scratching products and launched Qbert Skratch University. Keep on innovating DJ Qbert! #BruceLeeMoment We have an email from Michael H.: Hi, I just wanted to drop you a line to say how much I appreciate your podcast. I always knew Bruce was an amazing action star and person, but I didn’t realize until now what a deep thinker he was. In particular, I thought it was really interesting that a guy as manly as Bruce was happy to try hairdressing, I wish more men were that comfortable in their masculinity. My Bruce Lee Moment involved a bully at work. The bully always made me feel small and angry. And I constantly felt like in order to compete at work I would have to get down at the bully’s level and become like them. But then I thought about Bruce saying “Be like water, my friend.” And I realized I could go further by flowing past the bully, and finding more innovative ways to succeed that didn’t put me in the bully’s path. I really really appreciate that now. Share your #AAHA and #BruceLeeMoment recommendations with us via social media @BruceLee or email us at hello@brucelee.com