Simu Liu persisted through discomfort at the Academy Awards, revealing on Today with Hoda & Jenna that his torn Achilles tendon had not yet fully healed. Despite his injury, the 34-year-old actor, known for his role as one of the Kens in the popular Barbie movie, shared the stage with lead Ken Ryan Gosling to perform the nominated song, “I’m Just Ken.”
During his appearance, Simu Liu disclosed to hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager that he was still experiencing the effects of his foot injury.
“I’m like four months into recovering from Achilles surgery, but I’m powering through it because I’m like, ‘I feel like this is going to be a historic moment that I never would forgive myself if I wasn’t a part of,’ Liu shared.
“The Achilles tendon is a strong fibrous cord that connects the muscles in the back of your calf to your heel bone,” the Mayo Clinic explains, adding that after an injury, it can take up to six months to return to normal activity but “some problems can persist for up to a year.”
But as Liu said, “I definitely was like, ‘Should I be doing this?’ I was talking to my [physical therapist] and he’s like, ‘Ehhhh’ but I was like, ‘Whatever, I’m going to do it.’ But it came together quite quickly. Ryan has such a specific vision for what he wanted. And it was a perfect moment.”
In October, Liu tore his Achilles tendon while on a sports-filled trip with friends.
“Basically, I had this crazy idea to bring 20 of my friends to Miami — half from my Canadian side and half from the American side, and to pit them against each other in an Olympic-style tournament of sports,” Liu told.
They had scheduled consecutive basketball and volleyball games, with the latter proceeding smoothly.
But when the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star took the court for the basketball face-off, something went wrong.
“All of a sudden I feel like someone has either shot me or kicked my shin out from underneath me or just barreled into me,” he told.
“I’m like, ‘Who hit me?’ Everyone’s looking at me and they’re like, ‘Dude, nobody hit you.’ And it was at that moment that I knew that my Achilles was torn, and I went to urgent care right away.”
Despite attending red carpet events with a brace on his leg, Liu deemed dancing the night away as Ken No. 2 at the Academy Awards worth the effort.
“I mean, the entire song is, ‘Doesn’t really matter what I do / I’m always No. 2.,’ ” he said on Today.
“So I think that song really actually applies to me, more than it does Ken,” Liu continued. “So I have a personal connection to ‘I’m Just Ken.’ “
