Tributes to US martial artist and Hollywood action star Chuck Norris, who has died aged 86, have been pouring in. From Hollywood stars like Sly Stallone and Dolph Lundgren, to European action heroes like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Scott Adkins, the action film community all recognises that Norris paved the way for everyone who came after him. What you probably don’t know is that the Walker, Texas Ranger star also paved the way for actors… like Jessica Simpson.
In her memoir, cleverly titled Open Book, Simpson writes that she can’t sit through a Denzel Washington movie without getting completely distracted. But it’s not his look or his voice that’s the issue. It’s his eyebrows. And, believe it or not, she blames Chuck Norris.
In the book, Simpson recalls joining Chuck Norris’ acting school when she was 12 years old. Fresh off her audition for Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s, her agent suggested acting classes with the Walker, Texas Ranger actor. So she went.
Simpson remembers feeling completely out of place. “It felt like I was the only kid in class,” she writes, revealing that her scene partner was David Joyner, who was 20 years older than her and already working as Barney the Dinosaur for PBS.
Then she received notes from Mr Norris, who told her how to improve. “You have too much expression,” he said. Then he asked her a loaded question: “Do you know who the most powerful actor in the world is?”
But before she could say, “You,” Chuck Norris answered: “Denzel Washington”.
It honestly sounds like a bizarre episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
“Do you know why?” he continued. “Denzel can say anything without moving his eyebrows.”
And that wasn’t even the punchline of her story. Chuck then proceeded to grab Scotch tape and press it across her eyebrows and told her to try the scene again.
Simpson, who said she has “the facial expressions of Jim Carrey,” revealed that the camp became hell. The Scotch tape stayed on her eyebrows through every class. “It wasn’t torture, it was just embarrassing,” she admits.
By the third time she visited, she completely broke down crying in the car. Still, her mom insisted she go in.
Thankfully, years later, sitting on Jimmy Kimmel Live! promoting her memoir book, Simpson could laugh about the experience. She explained that Norris encouraged her to “channel Denzel Washington,” even though she didn’t know who he was at the time.
But now that she does. She can’t stand his movies. “I just watch his eyebrows the whole time,” she said.
It’s probably one of the craziest Chuck Norris stories you’ll ever hear. And it’s 100% true.
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