The reported cause of his death is cerebral edema, a condition in which excess fluid in the brain causes swelling and pain.
As per the official version, on 20 July 1973, Bruce Lee was working on a movie in Hong Kong, and in the late afternoon went to see his co-star Betty Ting Pei at her home.
At 7:30 pm, he complained of a headache, and Betty gave him a common painkiller, Equagesic.
This medicine caused a severe allergic reaction, and Lee became unresponsive.
Ting Pei called Bruce Lee’s business partner Raymond Chow home, and together they tried to revive Lee but failed.
Then, they called a doctor, who also couldn’t succeed, and so, Lee was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead at 10:15 pm.
At around 11 pm, Raymond Chow posted a release about Lee’s death but announced that the star had passed away at home accompanied by his wife (Lee’s wife also confirmed this version).
This false reporting was apparently done to safeguard Bruce Lee’s iconic image as they didn’t want speculations about his presence at a woman’s house, who was later reported to be his mistress.
And this twisting of facts is one of the reasons why Bruce Lee’s death is controversial.
That Betty didn’t call the ambulance straight away is another grey area.
Also, when the ambulance came, Lee wasn’t taken to the nearby hospital but to one that was half an hour away.
The medicine itself is also a source of controversy—Lee’s personal physician said that Equagesic is too mild to kill anybody.
Then, there is hash—Lee is said to have consumed hash that day as he believed cannabis expanded his consciousness.
He used to consume it to ease his nerves, and two months before his death, consumption of hash had caused him a seizure, but he was saved because he was taken to the hospital in time.
Because people idolised him, this aspect of his life was always kept a secret.
Poisoning by someone (if not Betty) linked to the Chinese Mafia has often been speculated as a cause of his death.
And then, there is the Dim Mak coup—a technique that attacks pressure points and causes delayed death to an opponent.
A master of the kung fu martial art is speculated to have perpetrated this on Lee as the master didn’t want Lee popularising this traditional art in the West to earn money and fame.
