Dwayne Johnson Talks About Relationship With His Father: ‘He Wasn’t an I Love You Guy’
Written by SOURCE on January 26, 2020
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson lost his father earlier this month. During a conversation with Oprah, the entertainer got personal about his relationship with the late professional wrestler.
The Rock admits to Oprah that he and his father had a “complicated” relationship. He describes the former professional wrestler as not “an ‘I love you guy” who raised him on “tough love.” Although there was a lot left unsaid between The Rock and his father, he doesn’t let that taint how he feels about his dad.
“The day he died, that night I went to bed, I felt so grateful and moved. Because I realized, oh wow, I have a new relationship with you,” Johnson said. “Clean slate. No regrets. No pain. No complications. Just me and you.”
Before becoming a franchise actor, The Rock was a third-generation WWE superstar. On his mother’s side, The Rock is affiliated with one of the most legendary families in wrestling history, the Anoaʻi Family, with his maternal grandfather being Peter Maivia. The Rock’s father, Rocky Johnson, helped break the color barrier in the WWE when he and his tag team partner, Tony Atlas, became the first black championship holders in the company’s history. Rocky Johnson went on to train his son when The Rock decided to take professional wrestling seriously. In fact, before being known as The Rock, Johnson paid homage to both his father and grandfather by wrestling under the name “Rocky Maivia.”
After talking about his father, The Rock brought out a bottle of his Teremana tequila to celebrate Oprah’s birthday. Instead of taking all the attention, Oprah decided to use this moment to toast to a new beginning for Johnson and his father.
