Linda Lee Cadwell

Linda says that she is inspired from her mother and that her mother always taught her that duty comes above everything else. According to her, she has taken hard work and commitment towards duty from her mother.

Linda believes that her non-judgmental nature comes to her from her father. In addition to that, she reminds everybody her first husband Bruce Lee and his famous quote, “Believe nothing that you read and only half of what you see.”

Linda has always been open about her views on racism and castes. She prefers no barriers in friendship and was even open to interracial dating.

Linda Lee Cadwell was born in Everett, Washington, on the March 21, 1945. Her birth name was Linda Emery. Her parents were Vivian R. (Hester) and Everett Emery. She has a Swedish, Irish, Norwegian, Dutch and English ancestry. Linda’s family practiced baptism and hence she was raised in a Baptist environment.

She went to Garfield High School. She is said to have had an exciting, yet quiet childhood in her junior high and high school days. Later, she graduated from the University of Washington.

She used to be a cheerleader in high school, as she was attracted to physical work and the excitement it provided. Also, like every other teenager, she considered cheerleading as an exciting and prestigious work.

Linda wanted to go to a medical school since her childhood as she always used to see her mother suffer due to low wages, but life had something else in store for her.

Linda met Bruce Lee while attending Garfield high school. Later, she joined his academy as a student. She started learning Kung Fu from Bruce and eventually they fell in love. On 17th August 1964, they got married in Seattle, Washington.

Two years after the unexpected and sudden death of Bruce Lee, Linda wrote her first book, ‘Bruce Lee – The Man Only I Knew’. The book turned out to be a massive hit and received positive reviews from critics.

Cadwell then went back to the USA, completed her education, and started teaching kindergarten kids.

In 1989, she wrote another book, ‘The Bruce Lee Story’. The 1993 film, ‘Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story’ was based on her first book, and starred Jason Scott and Lauren Holly. Lauren Holly portrayed Linda’s role in the movie.

In 2002, Linda founded the ‘Bruce Lee Foundation’ along with daughter, Shannon Lee. It was founded to share the philosophies and writings of the great martial arts master, Bruce Lee.

Linda believes that Bruce Lee’s work should never die and hence she has tried to bring it to public through various means.

Linda says that no one quite knows how Bruce died and she would rather remember the way he lived.