‘A Real Trailblazer’: Dwayne Johnson Celebrates Late Father’s Birthday And Shares Heartfelt Post; SEE Here
Dwayne Johnson got emotional remembering his father on his posthumous birthday. The multi-hyphenate star took to social media to mark the occasion with a special heartfelt post dedicated to his “Soulman.” On Saturday, August 24, Dwayne, 52, shared a series of pictures from different eras of his life with his father, the late WWE wrestler Rocky “Soulman” Johnson on his 80th birthday.
“My old man was a real trailblazer as a pro wrestler coming up in the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s,” the Moana actor wrote in the caption. “As a black athlete he change[d] a lot of people’s racial behaviors over the years with his in ring talent and his insane work ethic in the gym.”
Reflecting back on the father-son dynamic, he recalled learning “good and not so good” lessons from him. Although their relationship was “complicated” at the end of the day it was all “love.” One of the pictures was of his dad as a young dude training in the gym, another of him with his championship belt, another of him posing with a young Dwayne and one of them a few decades later.
In the years since his father’s death in 2020, the Jumanji actor got candid on numerous occasions about the complicated dynamic he shared with his father, revealing that they were not in speaking terms at the time of his death.
In March, Dwayne reflected on his late father’s life, legacy and record-breaking milestones in the WWE world in an Instagram post. “He came up the hard way, and trail-blazed for all of us men of color – in any sport & level of entertainment. But it was also very important to him to pave the way for all men, any color – it didn’t matter,” he added.
In the same post, he expressed that the biggest regret in his life was never having the chance to say goodbye to his father who died suddenly. “I regret not reconciling our complicated father/son s— before I lost him,” he added. Rocky raised him with tough fatherly love which he felt grateful for later in his life.
