Bruce Lee is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of Mixed Martial Arts, with his tremendous impact on the art itself as well as in the film and entertainment industry as a whole.
But as a few dozen letters attributed to Lee and his wife Linda have revealed, there was another side to him that longtime fans may have been unfamiliar with.
As reported by Bloody Elbow, Lee had a wide variety of handwritten communication with his longtime friend Robert Baker, who had long been rumored to have been the Lee family’s primary drug dealer of cocaine, acid, mushrooms, and marijuana during the 1960s and 1970s. Bids on the letters ranged from anywhere from $625 to $16,250 individually, with the entire collection being totaled at $462,000.
“Airmail me some coca-cola,” Lee writes in one letter to Baker. “Be cool about the package, do it the way you and I sincerely feel.”
One letter attributed to Lee’s wife, Linda has sold for $1,125, with the topic assuring Baker that her husband “hasn’t gone overboard” with the use of cocaine.
The auctioned letters weren’t entirely about drugs, though. One letter, which was mainly focused on the topic of writing his infamous Enter the Dragon movie, sold for just under $16,000.
Lee’s marijuana use has also been well documented since he passed away tragically at the age of 32 due to cerebral edema. Matthew Polly’s 2018 biography entitled “Bruce Lee: A Life” details Lee’s journey from a street-fighting teenager to his journey to show business and more.
Lee’s name has also resurfaced in the news as of late after world-renowned movie director and producer Quentin Tarantino spoke out about Lee’s controversial portrayal in the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The many secrets surrounding the Lee family and particularly, Bruce’s life in and out of martial arts are seemingly just being noticed by the public. There will surely be more information about the combat sports legend revealed over time, whether it be more positive secrets regarding his time in Hollywood to his long-rumored fascination for illegal drugs.
How do you think Bruce Lee should be remembered?