Jason Momoa Once Lost His Mind in Front of Idol Tom Waits

Jason Momoa is human after all! The 37-year-old actor might be one of television’s most intimidating tough guys, but even he gets starstruck in front of his idols. During a Twitch live stream of Ubisoft’s upcoming video game release, “For Honor,” the Game of Thrones star admitted to completely embarrassing himself during a chance run-in with singer Tom Waits.

“I was in an elevator with him and I had Lola, my daughter, with me,” he tells Yahoo Celebrity. “[Tom] said, ‘That’s a cute baby,’ and I just stared at him and I’m like ‘da da da …’ I couldn’t talk because it was Tom Waits! He means a lot to me so I was having a little trouble talking.” Though he looks back at the memory fondly, Momoa joked that it wasn’t his most composed moment in life. “I was pretty dorky,” he admits.

The incident has left Momoa wondering whether his own fans have been too nervous to approach him in real life, especially because he has a reputation for not always playing the friendliest of characters. “I kind of worry about that sometimes,” he says. “Some people make eye contact and you can recognize that they know who you are but are kind of afraid to approach. Maybe they look at me and they think I’m going to do something, but I’m a pretty nice guy normally!”

 

And while he has our attention, the actor would also like to set the record straight on the photo of him circulating on the Web where he is being escorted by a pair of “bodyguards.” “That was just at Jimmy Kimmel Live,” he insists. “When I was walking there, I was going to sign autographs. They are just people that work there. I don’t need bodyguards! They are just guys in suits at Jimmy Kimmel. They look nice,” he says, with a chuckle.

Even though he is commonly throwing punches and whipping out martial arts skills on screen, Momoa explains that he really only knows the basics of a variety of fighting styles. “I love learning different martial arts, but I’m definitely a white belt in pretty much everything.” But don’t let his coyness fool you — the 6-foot-4 star could definitely hold his own in a brawl. He just chooses to holster his muscles. “I haven’t been in any bar fights for a very long time, and I should not be doing that anymore,” he laughs. And though he doesn’t hit the gym with his wife, Lisa Bonet – “She does a lot of Pilates, and I’m not doing too many roles involving Pilates,” he jokes — his better half is wearing him down about getting into the yoga studio with her. “She wants me to do a class,” he says. “I should probably do it, but I just get frustrated doing it because I’m not very flexible.”