“The Rock” Has Played More Than 50 Masculine Characters, but in Fact, He’s a Kind Soul Who Loves His Daughters Dearly
Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, is one of the highest-paid actors in the world, and his movies often become box-office hits. But at the beginning of the 2000s, he was told that a professional wrestler can’t become a successful actor. He was recommended to change his style and get rid of the muscles.
Johnson’s path as an athlete started when he was at school. His football coach helped him stop the path of petty crimes and fights. Under his supervision, Dwayne became a player on the school team, and then he got interested in wrestling.
In 1996, the young Rock signed a contract with the WWF and quickly became popular worldwide. It happened thanks to his acting skills. “Even in the ring, he acted like a charismatic trash-talker.”
Soon, the popular actor was noticed by movie producers. In 2001, he was offered the role of the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser. But the following year, Johnson got the main role, and his own film, The Scorpion King.
After Johnson became an actor, he was hinted that it would be better to lose the image of the wrestler and become like other Hollywood stars. George Clooney and Johnny Depp were very popular, and it seemed that someone like The Rock would not be able to compete with them.
But Dwayne decided to retain his individuality and continued to work out. He remembers, “I made the tough decisions and the most important of all, was deciding I was done trying to be someone I’m not to conform to Hollywood. Instead, I decided to be my own man and Hollywood would eventually conform to me.”
Now, he gets lots of offers. He often has to prepare for new roles right on the place.
The actor says, “I’ve reached a point in my lucky career where I only want to do things that I’m passionate about.” Now, he only does the projects he’s really interested in. For example, in December 2022, The Rock is working on Red One because he’s always wanted to do “the right Christmas movie.”
Johnson shared photos from the set with his followers and also revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets. It turns out that the crew supports the “$5 Friday” tradition when everyone puts $5 into a special bucket.
The winner is chosen at the end of the working day by randomly choosing a name, and The Rock often doubles the amount the winner gets.
Due to a hard schedule, the actor has to spend a lot of time away. Once, he set a new personal record — 28 hours without sleep. So, he’s very happy to come back home. He says that he loves dropping his travel bags on the kitchen table when he comes back home.
At home, he’s greeted by his wife, Lauren Hashian, and 2 daughters, Jasmine and Tiana. The actor often posts photos of his happy family life on his Instagram and never gets angry with his little girls, even when they misbehave.
Johnson says, “7 a.m. Saturday morning and playing her favorite game, ’daddy close your eyes.’ Only a fool would continue to fall for this kinda torture. But man, that joyous belly laugh from her is intoxicating, so I’ll happily be the fool during these little girl years.”
The Rock keeps saying that he’s proud of his family and their desire to put in a lot of work to achieve their dreams. One of his daughters is interested in horse riding and adores animals.
And his close friend Sarona “is the real deal example of hard work, breaking the cycle and overcoming the odds.” She also became a professional wrestler, and Johnson supports her in this difficult path.
In February 2020, the Rock had another reason to feel proud of this family. WWE announced that Johnson’s daughter from his first marriage, Simone, would begin training at the WWE Performance Center, making her the first fourth-generation WWE wrestler.
Now, Simone has a contract with WWE, and in May 2022, she announced that her wrestling name would be Ava Raine.
The Rock often tells his fans about his workouts but also reminds them that from time to time, they should stop and enjoy life. For example, he can have a cheat meal and eat muffins with oil or pancakes with jam, peanut butter, and maple syrup.
And sports help the actor get rid of the stress after filming and difficult trips, or after talking to hundreds of journalists. The Rock says that he loves his job, but he still needs to decompress from time to time.
Under one of his photos, he wrote, “Leg training. The face of pure joy.”
Also, when he’s not busy filming, he can make himself and his fans happy by doing something good. Once, he had a post that started with, “I finally exorcised this chocolate demon that’s been gnawing at me for decades.”
It turned out that when young Dwayne lived in Hawaii, his family was so poor that he didn’t even have enough money to buy a chocolate bar. So, when he was 14, he started stealing Snickers from the store that was on the way to the gym. He did it almost every day for a year.
In November 2022, the actor came to the store, bought all the Snickers, and left them there for the buyers to treat themselves for free.
He wrote, “We can’t change the past and some of the dumb stuff we may have done, but every once in a while we can add a little redeeming grace note to that situation — and maybe put a big smile on some stranger’s faces.”
And probably the best way to rest for the actor is to spend time on his own farm with his family and do some fishing there.
The Rock says, “One of my lifelong passions is fishing as well as raising fish on my farms — largemouth bass, striped bass (hybrid), variety of sunfish, big alligator snapping turtles (those are fun to feed).”
Johnson works closely with a team of biologists to help him create a healthy ecosystem in the lake for the fish to thrive and be happy.
Now, Johnson is happy that his life went exactly the way it did, and that he decided not to change who he was when everyone would tell him to do so. He says, “I want you all to live that kind of life. Passion. Purpose. Hard work. Gratitude. Your why.”
What helps you relax and rest after a lot of work?