Jet Li spent decades as one of the most recognised martial arts stars in the world, but stepped away from the public eye as a combination of health problems and a personal shift in priorities took hold. The good news for fans is that 2026 looks like his year to come back.

Between Mulan in 2020 and Blades of the Guardians in 2026, Jet Li went six years without appearing in a film. The gap was not planned as a retirement, it was a direct result of his hyperthyroidism diagnosis, accumulated spinal and leg injuries from decades of performing his own stunts.

The medication he relied on to control his thyroid condition made intense physical training impossible, and he has said that living with chronic pain reshaped his thinking about what he wanted to do with his time. Rather than push through for the sake of staying in the public eye, he stepped back and devoted himself to his Buddhist practice and charity work through the One Foundation.

His absence fed years of rumours, but the reality was simply that a man who had spent most of his life in training halls and on film sets chose, for the first time, to slow down.

Yes,Jet Liis very much alive. The rumours of his death have circulated periodically online for years, driven largely by his long absences from public view and his visibly changed appearance in photographs.

In August 2025, he himself put the latest round of speculation to rest by posting videos on Weibo and Douyin showing himself in a hospital bed before and after a surgical procedure. He described the operation with characteristic dry humour, writing that “a piece of hardware broke down, so I sent it back to the manufacturer for repair.” The wound was visible on the right side of his neck. Within 48 hours he was posting a photo of himself eating knife-cut noodles at a restaurant after being discharged, telling fans he had “left the factory”.

A close associate confirmed the surgery was to remove a small benign tumour, and his recovery went smoothly. By November 2025, Li had re-emerged publicly looking noticeably healthier, enough that some Chinese media started talking about a “reverse aging” transformation. He posted a video of himself swimming to address a bizarre new rumour that had spread online, that his renewed health was the result of a heart transplant from a deceasedShaolin monk. Li appeared topless in the video to show he had no surgical scars, and used the moment to address how quickly misinformation spreads.

Jet Li is 63 years old, born on April 26, 1963, in Beijing, China. He is a naturalised citizen of Singapore, having confirmed that status publicly in 2011 after reports of his move surfaced in Singapore’s Business Times. He moved there partly for his two daughters’ education and because Singapore’s laws meant his family would not be followed by paparazzi. He and his wife Nina Li Chi also purchased a villa on Binjai Rise for approximately 19.8 million Singapore dollars at the time.

Li was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 2010 and publicly disclosed the condition in 2013. Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland overproduces hormones, affecting almost every organ in the body. At one point, his resting heart rate measured between 130 and 140 beats per minute, well above a normal range of 60 to 100. He manages the condition with daily medication, though the drugs themselves prevented him from doing intense physical training for years.

On top of that, Li accumulated significant spinal and leg injuries over decades of performing his own stunts, injuries severe enough that the Chinese government issued him a Grade 3 disability assessment. There were also lingering effects on his heart from the untreated period before his diagnosis.

Source: LowKickMMA.com