The legend of Jean-Claude Van Damme has become bigger than the man himself. As a matter of fact, the stories about him are as exciting and riveting as his movies, never failing to entertain or elicit a W-T-F reaction. Yet one of the wildest tales told about JCVD is surprisingly false.
Go to the trivia section of Van Damme’s IMDb page, and it says, “Once said he learned to speak English by watching the cartoon The Flintstones.” Look, it’s an entirely believable story, since The Flintstones started airing in 1960, and JCVD was born in the same year. Growing up, he would have had some kind of exposure to Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble’s shenanigans, so who’s to say he didn’t pick up English from the show? After all, he wouldn’t have been the first person to learn a new language from a series on TV.
Unfortunately, as much as everybody would love this bit of “trivia” to be true, it isn’t. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Van Damme cleared up the facts here. “No,” he said with a laugh. “Most people said so, so I make them happy.”
In other words, he decided to have fun with the rumor and troll along with it. GG, JC.
“When I came into this country, I didn’t speak much English,” Van Damme added. “But I was so into my will of making it that I didn’t see it as a problem. But it was a problem [laughs].”
Hollywood has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever, though. In August 2026, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Ryan Gosling was set to produce a new live-action Flintstones movie centered around Bamm-Bamm Rubble. It’s quite the choice to focus on Bamm-Bamm as the main character, but the other members of the Flintstone and Rubble families are set to feature in some capacity. Maybe a cameo for Van Damme could be in the offering? Because honestly, if there isn’t a space for JCVD in this cast list, then Hollywood and Gosling need to bin this movie altogether.
By embracing The Flintstones rumor, Van Damme has demonstrated that he has a sense of humor and loves to give the people what they want. Lest we forget, he finally came full circle in 2023’s Mortal Kombat when he voiced and provided the likeness for Johnny Cage’s alternate skin. As everybody knows, Cage and Mortal Kombat had been partially inspired by Van Damme, so it was good to see him enter the universe. Now, it’s time for him to hit Bedrock next!
Watch the 2019 THR interview with JCVD below.
