PEOPLE WATCH

Myths in the Making: Martial-arts movie star Steven Seagal seems to have trouble separating myth from reality. He recently appeared on Arsenio Hall’s talk show and said that he spent a lot of his youth in Brooklyn, but his mother, Pat, told People magazine that he was born in Lansing, Mich., and lived outside Detroit before moving to Fullerton, Calif., when he was 5. Seagal also has portrayed himself as an urban street kid, but his mother says he suffered from asthma and was “a puny kid back then.” The People story also casts doubt on Seagal’s claim to have studied in Japan with Morihei Uyeshiba, the founder of the aikido form of martial arts, who died in 1969. Sources familiar with the CIA also say Seagal’s claim to have been a CIA adviser is improbable.