Jason Momoa doesn't 'give a sh*** what anyone thinks': 'I'm pretty secure in my masculinity'
Jason Momoa —known for his substantial 6-foot-4-inch build, prominent facial hair and his portrayal of warlords in TV and film — might seem like the man’s man of Hollywood. But he is revealing a softer side of himself while dressed in blush pink for InStyle.
“Pink is just a beautiful color,” he told the publication for the December 2020 issue. “And I’m pretty secure in my masculinity. I don’t really give a s*** what anyone thinks.”
The confidence that the 41-year-old exudes is something that’s certainly come across in Momoa’s public persona, particularly when paired up with wife Lisa Bonet as one of the industry’s most striking and powerful couples. What he doesn’t talk about often, however, is what he overcame to get there, as a mixed child growing up in rural Iowa.
“I’m definitely a product of two very opposite worlds,” he said, referring to his Native American and Hawaiian father, whom he visited often in Oahu, and his Irish-German mother, who raised him as a single parent. “I got beat up a lot just for being slightly different — it was gnarly. I mean, I wore Birkenstocks in middle school, and it was like, ‘You are a freak!’”
Momoa also ran into some obstacles while trying to make it big in Hollywood, which forced him into starting his own production company with a friend back in 2010. Even after booking a breakout gig in Game of Thrones in 2011, the actor struggled to pay the bills at his home with Bonet, since his character was killed off of the show early on. “I mean, we were starving after Game of Thrones,” he shared. “I couldn’t get work. It’s very challenging when you have babies and you’re completely in debt.”
Although things got better for Momoa’s career, he admitted to struggling as a parent after growing up at home without a father. “I didn’t know what it takes to be a dad,” he said. “And I don’t want to just tell my son, ‘Because I said so.’ I really want to connect, and I want him to be vulnerable and open.” And he’s leading my example by speaking about his own efforts to bridge the gap between his masculinity and vulnerability.
“I mean, I’m a warrior, and I will lay it down. But I’m also the first one to say, ‘I have a lot of problems, and I want to be able to correct those problems,’” he said. “We all have the feminine and the male side in us, and we need to embrace both.”
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Jason Momoa rocks a pink velvet tux to the Oscars with Lisa Bonet: 'Finally, times are changing'
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