He’s the 90s martial arts pin-up who nearly lost it all to cocaine. Now Jean-Claude Van Damme is back with his own whiskey brand, a film in the works – and surprising gym tips for IRAM RAMZAN
An episode from the first season of Friends features Monica (Courteney Cox) spotting a well-known figure on a street in New York.
“Oh God, God, God.” She shrieks, “It’s Jean-Claude Van Damme,” to Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel. “He’s very attractive!”
With skepticism, Rachel examines the rugged Belgian actor: “You think?”
Monica, looking shocked, asks, “The Muscles from Brussels?” Van Damme, Wham Bam? The flatmates soon find themselves in a competitive relationship with Van Damme.
As I am led into his presence, I wonder who can blame them.
He’s still the Muscles from Brussels at sixty-three, some thirty years after making that cameo in the venerable sitcom! Or, if he had his way, the Fred Astaire of Karate, a tribute to his prowess in the fighting styles that helped him establish his reputation.
Super-buff cinematic heroes of the 1980s and 1990s, such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, were common, but none were as good as Van Damme, whose signature moves included 360-degree kicks and splits. Men aspired to be like him because of his killer moves, bouffant hairstyle, and rippling muscles, while women wanted to be with him.
‘I am ushered into his presence’, Iram Ramzan says as she sits down with Jean-Claude Van Damme
The Eighties and Nineties were the era of super-buff screen heroes, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Sylvester Stallone, but few were a match for Van Damme — whose star turns included the splits and awesome 360-degree kicks
Alcohol, martial arts, and fitness aren’t the best combinations, but Van Damme has form
The new whisky’s influence is revealed by Jean Claude Van Damme.
My landlady exclaims, “He was sooo good looking back in the day,” when I tell her I’m going to interview him.
My mother requests a customized video. “Ensure that he calls me by name!” Mom, keep going!
Furthermore, after looking at JCVD’s body of work, I can’t say that her fangirling surprises me.
Consider the sequence in Bloodsport (1988) where he performs the splits and knocks out a massive Chinese man.
Or Kickboxer (1989), in which he dances with two Thai women while intoxicated and, guess what?, does the splits to fend off the bad guys?
Or how about Double Team (1997), where he’s in a Roman amphitheater, evading gunfire and a tiger?
And what about the incredible ‘The Epic Split’ stunt he pulled off for a Volvo Trucks commercial? It took place in a single, breathtaking take. Van Damme performed the splits while perched on the wing mirrors of two trucks that were traveling backwards. “As a result, they sold thirty percent more trucks in China,” he says me with pride.
I commend him on how well-groomed he looked at our meeting in Belfast, and he says that maintaining a healthy diet and frequent exercise are important, but he’s not in the best form right now.
He’s exhausted from doing interviews in various time zones during a hectic promotional tour for Old Oak, a new Irish whiskey. The county known as “Oak Leaf County,” or County Derry, is the source of the name.
He claims that “Irish people are very happy and down to earth.” They speak quickly. I hope they understand me because I talk quickly as well.
Alcohol, martial arts, and fitness aren’t the best combinations, but Van Damme has form. Wearing a double denim and a notorious mullet, he served as the spokesperson for the American drink Coors Light.
I inquire if he has ever taken a shot of whiskey prior to working out. I occasionally take a chance. My pals who are bodybuilders like to take shots of schnapps, vodka, or whiskey since alcohol widens blood vessels.
Although he claims to drink very little, he credits his love of spirit to his grandpa, who lived in Belgium when he was a child. I recall sitting on his knee when I was nine or ten years old. He was a huge cigar smoker. He would dip the cigar into a golden liquid called whiskey, which I liked the fragrance of.
He is eager to emphasize that the new company will donate up to 50% of its income to environmental causes because he is an animal rights activist.
Fitness, martial arts and alcohol are not exactly ideal bedfellows but Van Damme has form
He’s keen to emphasise that up to 50 per cent of the profits from the new brand will go towards environmental issues — and he’s passionate about animal rights
Van Damme’s life now, valued at an estimated £25–30 million, is very different from his modest origins.
Van Damme’s life now, valued at an estimated £25–30 million, is very different from his modest upbringing. Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg, the son of a florist in Belgium. He and his sister Veronique grew up in Brussels.
He claims that after dropping out of school at age 13, he became engrossed in comic books, particularly The Adventures of Tintin. “It really helped me,” he chuckles.
His father had urged him to learn karate in order to “toughen up,” and in 1978 he earned his black belt in Shotokan karate. To improve his kickboxing skills, he eventually studied in Paris and, shockingly, spent a few years studying ballet.
Van Damme, though, desired to be an actor. He moved to Los Angeles in 1981, when he was 21 years old, and sold his “California Gym” in the Belgian capital, which he claims was bringing in $15,000 a month. When I mentioned my desire to visit Hollywood to my father, he asked, “Are you crazy? You moron, I closed my flower shop for you!
Van Damme knew no one, could barely speak English, and had only $3,000 in his pocket. He worked as a limousine driver and bouncer for four years, frequently sleeping in his car and scrounging for food. “I’m happy I reached my lowest point,” he remarks. “You get to interact with people who have various goals.”
When he made his breakthrough in the low-budget Bloodsport, everything changed. If Van Damme hadn’t insisted on helping edit the movie and then pleaded with the producers to let it be seen, it was thought to be so awful that it might never have been released.
With a $1.5 million budget and shot in Hong Kong, it made $50 million at the box office in the United States alone. After starring in blockbusters like Universal Soldier (1992) and Hard Target (1993), he next costarred with Kylie Minogue in a movie based on the video game Street Fighter. (He and Kylie had an affair while he was wed to Darcy LaPier, his fourth wife, and father of his son.)
His personal life has not been as successful as his career. He has been married to four different women on five separate occasions. Gladys Portugues, a former bodybuilder, is his current wife, with whom he had a son and a daughter. They separated in 1992 and remarried seven years later. In the late 1990s, he battled a severe cocaine problem and received a bipolar disorder diagnosis.
He acknowledges, “I was depressed in the morning.” “It took years for me to realize why I was depressed while everyone else seemed happy.”
These days, he calls himself a reformed party boy who watches instructional YouTube videos.
He has lived in Hong Kong for the past 20 years. In the minute it takes him to reach to his unit on the 75th level of an apartment building, he stretches and performs a deep squat while in the elevator. He shows me and, sure enough, he’s quite adaptable!
He says he drinks very little, but his grandfather inspired his love of the spirit when he was growing up in Belgium
What further advice about staying fit would he like to give? He tells me to “train your bum and your legs.” “And remember to stretch frequently.”
He tells me he wishes he could come to the gym with me when I tell him I strength train twice a week. “I could walk you through the steps.”
I love you so much. My personal trainer would probably understand if I was moved to make room for Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Lastly, I question him about his rivalry with Steven Seagal, another action hero. Since Seagal, an aikido expert with a seventh dan black belt, questioned Van Damme’s combat history in a 1991 interview, the two have not been on the same page. At a Sylvester Stallone party, Van Damme challenged Seagal to a fight, which sparked heated exchanges. Seagal declined.
He now says, “I have no problem with Steven.” Being a young man, you aspire to be the macho man. No issues at all if I saw him today.
What will happen to Jean-Claude Van Damme next? He’s penning a screenplay for a film titled Battleground, which aims to be “Bloodsport meets the dark web.” Moreover, hold the front page where it says, “It’s going to be my last martial arts movie.”
Claim the opposite! If Jean-Claude were to leave our screens without being able to perform the splits and high kicks that made him famous, it would be a damn tragedy.