Dwayne Johnson is no stranger to professing his love of family, and recently opened up about a big lesson he learned from his father.
Speaking to Trevor Noah during a recent appearance on his What Now? podcast, Johnson opened up about his father, the late Rocky Johnson. Dwayne brought up a story about his father as a child that he says explains a lot about how he ended up raising Dwayne.
“The man who raised me, who was my dad, was my dad Rocky Johnson. His father died when he was thirteen. The holidays that came up after his dad’s death, a new boyfriend is in the picture,” said Johnson. “Boyfriend gets drunk, pisses on the turkey. My dad’s 13, he grabs a shovel, my dad did, and drew a line in the dirt, and said, ‘If you cross that line, I’m gonna kill you.’ The drunk ass-ole crossed the line, he knocked him out cold as a block of ice.”
Dwayne Johnson says that sad story highlights his father’s capacity for love
Dwayne Johnson went on to note that, since his father left the house at an early age, his form of love and toughness was formed then. In turn, Dwayne says that’s how he was raised to a degree.
“The cops come, and the cops say, ‘Well, he’s still unconscious, but he’s not dead. When he wakes up, one of two things is going to happen. He’s going to kill your son, or your son’s going to kill him.’ So the cop’s recommendation to my mom was, one of them has to go. You know where I’m going with this. She looked at her son, my dad, his name is Wayde, and said, ‘You have to go.’ So at 13, he’s out on the streets.
“The reason why I tell you that story is, that was my dad’s capacity for love. 13, you’re gone. So that’s the man who raised me. So that’s the stiff upper lip. ‘Come on, work through it, you’ll be good. Get up. I’m getting up, you’re getting up, we’re going to the gym.’ I’m five, I can’t go to the gym. ‘You’re going to the gym, you sit in the corner. You watch.’ And that was how I grew up. ‘You’re coming with me to the wrestling matches.’ It was always rough, it was tough, but that’s his version of love.”
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