John Legend is learning how to swim at the age of 40.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend

The 'Ordinary People' hitmaker surprised his 12.4 million Twitter followers when he revealed he was off for a swimming lesson on Tuesday (29.01.19), as he claimed he "can't really swim".

He wrote: "I can't really swim. Today I took my first swim lesson since I was like 5. My dad learned in his 60's so I feel like I'm ahead of schedule."

A fan then joked that he was lying on his song 'All of Me' because of the line: "My head's under water/But I'm breathing fine."

They quipped: "So what happened when your head was under water? Did you breathe fine? Was it all a lie?!"

John - who has eight-month-old son Miles and two-year-old daughter Luna with his wife Chrissy Teigen - retweeted the post, and laughed: "All. Lies. Hahaha (sic)."

Some users were less than impressed, with one suggesting it's not ideal that John doesn't know how to swim properly because he many not be able to dive into his own pool if his children ever slipped in.

A follower then responded: "Not trying to disrespect U or your kids. Just wanted to put out there for general knowledge about pools, children, and safety precautions in response to someone commenting @ John slipping into pool (sic)."

John's wife Chrissy, 33, hit back at people who commented on the couple's parenting capabilities, but she later said she "misunderstood" and admitted she can get "defensive" when people criticise their brood's safety.

John is not alone in not being able to swim.

Many celebrities have revealed over the years that they either can't swim at all or have a fear of water, including Eva Mendes, Will Smith - who only learned in 2016 - and Zayn Malik revealed he had a fear of open water preventing him from hitting the pool.