I have never met a child, woman or man who doesn’t like Dwayne Johnson. He has millions of fans all over the world, and he loves to share what is going on in his life with his fans through social media outlets. Johnson is a born entertainer, currently promoting his new movie Skyscraper and The Esquire had a friendly chat with The Rock.
To start the conversation, Johnson was asked to recommend a food restaurant, and he revealed that his favorite food is pizza. He said: “No question you have to go to Pizza Heaven in Broward Miami. If you want a real reader’s tip from me, then go in and ask for what The Rock has – I’m not kidding, people do that – and you won’t be disappointed.”
From foods, he went on to talk about his dad, saying that he inherited pure determination from him and the will to be successful. Here is a story about The Rock’s dad and his childhood: “He had a tough upbringing – and I mean real tough. His own father died when he was 13 years old, and just a few months later his mum moved her new boyfriend in. At Christmas that year the boyfriend got drunk and started acting up, so my Dad—who was still only 13 at the time—gave him a warning. Unfortunately, he didn’t listen, so, bang! my dad knocked him clean out. Long story short, the cops came and it resulted in him being homeless at just 13.”
Johnson added that he was very tough on him when he was growing up. However, he pointed out that it was all out of love and thanks to him, he became a man he is today.
At one point in his life, Dwayne had only seven bucks with him, which is when he hit rock bottom. He named the company Seven Bucks Productions to remember the difficult times. Here is how Johnson sees it: “I think the ‘Seven Bucks moment’ if you want to call it that, was defining for me. I had been sulking on the sofa just watching trashy TV until that point. I decided there and then that, even if it wasn’t in football, the world was still going to hear from me. That’s pretty much where my wrestling career started.”
In the beginning, the crowd hated The Rock or to put it more accurately, his character in the ring, which made him feel bad. But Johnson realized that it was not him they disliked, it was his character, and he wanted to reinvent himself: “While I was injured I had a conversation with Vince [McMahon] who said they hate you anyway, so let’s bring you back as a bad guy. At that moment The Rock was born – I came back as the arrogant, egotistical, wrestler – and a month later I was the most popular guy in the franchise.”
He was asked to comment on why WWE didn’t embrace Roman Reigns as they did embrace The Rock: “Roman is a great wrestler, a great entertainer, and he gives it everything. The last couple of months might not have been the easiest – but he has a big future in the WWE.”
It is amazing that at the time Johnson became The Rock, failure wasn’t an option for him. He knew that everything would turn out fine and he was ready for the big things in life. But the transition from the wrestling to the movie industry wasn’t easy.
Dwayne Johnson explains his philosophy during this change: “Well, I don’t think anybody was going to come up to me and say, “hey, we thought you were going to be terrible.” I just used the simple technique of making sure I’m always the hardest working person in the room. It doesn’t matter how much success my movies have, how many box office records they break, I will always be the hardest working person in the room.”
In the last movie, Skyscraper, Dwayne Johnson is playing an amputee, and he has learned a lot from his role. But the main thing, according to Johnson and reported by The Esquire is that we have to normalize disabilities.
As for the best advice he has ever been given – it comes from no other person but his dad: “Respect is given when it is earned.” And The Rock lives by that rule every day.
