Dwayne Johnson reveals final talk with Rocky Johnson and a disputed memoir that reshaped a father-son bond

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has opened a window into the most complicated chapter of his family saga, describing in detail the last conversation he had with his late father, Rocky Johnson, and a dispute over the elder Johnson’s memoir that he says crossed a line. In a wide-ranging interview published in The New York Times Magazine, Johnson said he was stunned to find that Soulman: The Rocky Johnson Story carried quotes attributed to him that he did not write, a realization that he said hurt deeply and reflected a pattern he linked to attention seeking.

The memoir controversy came to a head, Johnson said, in a clash that echoed earlier tensions between father and son over the younger Johnson’s choice to pursue professional wrestling. He recalled that in 2019, their most significant blowup since he was a teenager happened at a time when Johnson decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. Rocky Johnson reportedly asked him, “What do you think you possibly have to offer?” Johnson described that moment as emblematic of a larger dynamic, noting that the conflict was part of a long arc in which years of distance and travel on the road fed a complicated bond between father and son. “It hurts,” he told NYT Magazine, reflecting on the pain of being seen as a novelty or a project rather than a son. “It goes back to the attention, the narcissism.”

The last conversation occurred against a backdrop of a family history defined by constant movement and a father whose wrestling schedule kept him on the road. Johnson described a childhood marked by frequent relocations and an upbringing in which his father's presence was intermittent. His parents’ relationship was volatile, with periods of separation that left a lasting imprint on him. The actor said that the memory of these early years was sharpened by what happened later and by the sense of displacement he felt when his family’s stability frayed.

In the NYT Magazine interview, Johnson also touched on a foundational moment from his adolescence. When he was 15, he and his mother were evicted from their Hawaii apartment. His mother asked Rocky to let Dwayne stay with him in Nashville, where the elder Johnson was living at the time. Johnson said his father told his mother, “No problem, I’ve got an apartment.” Yet when Johnson arrived in Nashville, Rocky Johnson was nowhere to be found. He was met instead by Bob, who drove him to a motel and introduced him to Bruno, a man Johnson would later become friends with, and who would play a role in the uneasy transition from teen to adult.

The moment of eviction was described in vivid and painful terms. Johnson said his mother’s face when she confronted the eviction notice was something he would carry forever. “My heart hurts when I think about that,” he said. “The pain that my mom was driving with: Like ‘What is my life now? That whole time?’” He recalled that, upon arriving at the motel, his father’s absence was even more crushing given the homecoming she had hoped for. “That night,” he said, “it wasn’t even an explosion. It was just a – collapse.”

Beyond the traumatic personal history, the actor said the remainder of his father’s 2019 memoir felt to him like a composite built from fiction. Johnson claimed, “Growing up with my dad, I know the truth to all these stories, and they’re not in this book. If the truth is blue, the story is red.” He said he succeeded in getting the book pulled from bookstore shelves after learning that the foreword credited to him had been fabricated or misrepresented. The discovery, he said, was a painful affront to his reality and to the memory of their relationship.

Johnson’s father died in 2020 as the actor prepared to begin work on the film Red Notice. He learned of Rocky Johnson’s death while driving onto the set on the first day of filming, a moment that crystallized the tension between the man he knew and the myth that had formed around him. He initially considered going home, but he recalled one of his father’s own maxims—that the “show must go on.” He went to work, a decision that reflected a complicated blend of duty, resilience, and grief.

The elder Johnson’s funeral proved a turning point in Johnson’s reflections on their bond. He said he realized that his father had been a tremendous friend to many others, including prominent wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Triple H, a detail that highlighted the broader social world his father inhabited. “Wildly enough, my old man was just this amazing friend,” Johnson said. “Complicated husband. Complicated dad. But an awesome friend to everyone else.”

Asked whether he thought he was more his father’s friend than his son, Johnson answered with a measured honesty that spoke to a lifelong tension. “He wasn’t my friend either,” he said, acknowledging that idealized memories had wandered into the narrative of their relationship. “I wish. I think that my mom was my friend.” The Rock paid tribute to his mother, noting that she remained the constant confidante and the person who anchored him through a childhood of upheaval and, later, a career built on public adulation that could never fully erase private pain.

Today, Johnson is a father to three children—Simone, 24; Jasmine, 9; and Tiana, 7—who represent a generational reframing of a family history that has long been the subject of public fascination. The actor has spoken about how those early experiences shaped his own parenting, emphasizing loyalty, resilience, and a commitment to protecting those he loves, even as he continues to navigate the interplay between family legacy and personal identity.

The conversation Johnson shared with NYT Magazine, though deeply personal, fits within a broader pattern of celebrities reframing their family histories in the public eye. His remarks touch on themes familiar to audiences of sports-and-entertainment culture: fathers who set high expectations, the lure and pressure of fame, and the enduring question of what is told and what remains unsaid in the stories we tell about ourselves. In this telling, Johnson offers a nuanced portrait of a father who, despite his complexities and failings, also served as a touchstone for many who moved in the same circle—and, for Johnson, a source of both inspiration and caution.

As Johnson continues to chart a path that blends his film career with his public persona, the personal narrative he shared with The New York Times Magazine serves as a reminder that even in the most glamorous corners of popular culture, the private lives of those in the spotlight can be deeply fraught and profoundly human. The Rock’s reflections on his father’s influence, the wounds of their final years, and the enduring complicity of memory contribute to a broader cultural conversation about how families cope with fame, failure, and forgiveness in the glare of the public eye.