Actor/professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared clips from his eulogy at the funeral of his dad, Rocky Johnson, who died on January 15th of a heart attack.
What We Know:
- The Rock just recently posted a heartfelt 11-minute video to Facebook and Instagram just under a month after his father’s passing. It has tugged at many heartstrings, as the normally joyful and strong icon struggles to deliver the speech at times.
- He thanked the general public for the wave of condolences and dscussed the moment he learned his 75-year-old father had passed away.
- Johnson later stated that his wife, Lauren, got a call and he got the news from a still unidentified person named Cora, as soon as he arrived at the parking lot of a production site. He described being in a fog and wishing everything was just a dream. As he walked into the set, a great number of unsuspecting production staff gathered to say hello and wishing him a good morning. The video shows part of this moment from Johnson’s perspective.
- Johnson also stated “For my dad, when he broke into the business in the mid-60s and throughout the late ’60s and into the ’70s in the United States where racial tension and divide was very strong, and in the ’60s and the ’70s you have a black man coming in, it’s an all-white audience and all these small little towns that eventually I would go on to wrestle in”.
- Rocky was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, as Wayde Douglas Bowles and began wrestling at the age of 16. His wrestling career ended with his retirement in 1991, but he went on to train his son, Dwayne, to become a wrestler. The rest was history. Rocky, blazed wrestling trails and became the first Black Georgia Heavyweight Champion.
“I’ll see you down the road, Soulman,” he signed off, before adding, “Til we meet again. Your son.”
