Jason Momoa came close to death in surfing accident

Jason Momoa almost drowned while surfing at Pe’ahi in Maui in 2007 after his leg rope snapped. Photo / Getty Images

Jason Momoa almost drowned while out surfing.

The Aquaman actor was navigating Pe’ahi, the biggest surf break in Maui, which is nicknamed Jaws, during a lengthy paddle through Hawaiian waters in 2007 when his leg rope snapped amid high wind, though he was “fine” at first, despite the waves crashing down on him.

Speaking on the Smartless podcast, he said: “I was doing this paddle, we went in at Jaws. 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. I was trained pretty well, so I was fine. 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...

“There’s all this water that pulls out of a channel there, [and] you just get hit with these waves.”

Momoa said he got “stuck” and his body began to “give up” on him while he waited to be rescued.

He continued: “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.

“I had my paddle and I was waving it and they couldn’t see me, and the waves were so big.

“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 toe hit the outer reef. I literally gave up, and I’m screaming inside.”

The 46-year-old actor was eventually found by one of his surfing friends, but the journey back to shore wasn’t easy.

He said: “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 stopped the pair going straight to the show and “brutal waves” meant they lost their boards.

Momoa continued: “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.”

The Chief of War actor – who has Lola, 18, and Nakoa-Wolf, 16, with ex-wife Lisa Bonet – eventually made it back to shore and instantly turned his back on his deadly smoking habit.

He said: “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.”