Jackie Chan is a man of worldwide fame. The action-comedy icon turned himself into a megastar and is now an actor, a director, and a philanthropist all rolled into one. Not to mention the fact that he is an impeccable martial artist who performs his own stunts.?Chan’s worldwide popularity and the recognition that he has received through his films such as Snake In the Eagle’s Shadow?and?Drunken Master have ensured that he has abundant fans all across the world.
Safe to say, Jackie Chan has a cult following, one that has only grown in number all these years. His fame was only overshadowed by his benevolence. In his autobiography, ‘Never Grow Up’, Chan tells a tale of a time that commemorates how kind he was to his fans.
Jackie Chan once gave harbor to an overwhelmed fan
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Jackie Chan had an office in Hong Kong, which was always overrun by fans. His followers would travel from different cities and countries and then wait outside the office to accost him when he would make an appearance. To escape from his over-eager fans, Chan had two entrances to his office. The back entrance was used when Chan was getting late for a meeting and there were too many people waiting outside for him to make it in on time.
Chan’s staff gave him a phone call to confirm what entrance he should use, and he always adhered to what they suggested. This one time, as he was entering his office in his car, Chan recalls a fan sitting outside his office in the bitter cold. He says in his memoir, “As I passed the entrance, I saw a young boy. Though it was cold, he was wearing only a torn, dirty sweater. My car zoomed past him into the compound, but then I kept thinking about him waiting outside, shivering.”
In those days, traveling was neither easy nor cheap, but Chan soon found out that this dedicated man had made the trip especially to see him. The fan was brought inside by Chan’s staff. Chan recalls how cold the fan was, and how he wouldn’t stop sniffling. He describes the incident, saying, “He just sat there crying!”
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How Chan changed a fan’s life forever
Jackie Chan, in his memoir, wrote, “I asked someone to pour him a cup of hot tea, and we got him to sit down and warm up.” Chan also flipped through some scrapbooks that the fan had dedicated to him. After that, it was time to say goodbye, and as the fan was leaving, Chan hugged him. As soon as the fan got a hug, a dam seemed to break. Chan recalls, “He started to cry, perhaps overwhelmed by what he?d been through and the excitement of realizing his goal. I had no idea what to do.” The situation was rectified after the fan was handed some signed photos and souvenirs.
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They say don’t meet your heroes, but this definitely does not hold true for Jackie Chan. This particular meeting surely changed the life of that mysterious man and also left a lasting impression on the megastar himself.
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