Dwayne Johnson opens up about painful childhood and family struggles

Actor Dwayne Johnson, known worldwide for his blockbuster films and larger-than-life persona, has revealed that his childhood was far from easy. He and his family frequently moved across the United States, from urban North Carolina to suburban Connecticut, but one thing remained constant: dysfunction.

In an interview with Variety, Johnson described his parents’ volatile relationship. “My own mom and dad had an explosive and volcanic relationship,” he said. “My dad was a pro wrestler at a time when it was the Wild West. There weren’t million-dollar contracts. It was paycheque to paycheque and just trying to survive. And my dad struggled with his addictions and focused on his career and himself, while my mom was at home, raising me.”

Johnson spoke about the sacrifices his mother made. “She had to give up her own dreams and support the man that she loves. All she wanted was to be seen, and she was never seen. I grew up watching that kind of decline in a relationship when a man battles his own demons. I watched their fights. I heard their fights, which is even worse.”

For years, Johnson channelled his personal struggles into his career, focusing on tough-guy roles in billion-dollar films. But in 2017, he began confronting his past more directly when he pursued the life rights of MMA fighter Mark Kerr, whose drug addiction disrupted his UFC career in the late 1990s.

“For years, I didn’t know that could actually serve as a landing place for me to be able to put all this trauma you go through into my work. I was probably scared to go there,” Johnson admitted.

The project resulted in A24’s The Smashing Machine, widely regarded as a career-defining performance. Johnson immersed himself completely in the role, portraying a protagonist both bruised and brutal in a way that left him unrecognisable.

Johnson, who rose to stardom through professional wrestling before becoming a movie A-lister, joins a select group of actors able to translate personal hardship into transformative performances, following in the footsteps of actresses like Demi Moore and Pamela Anderson.

He approached director Benny Safdie in 2019 to bring Kerr’s story to the screen. While Safdie recognised Johnson’s potential, the film was always envisioned as a solo effort by the director, with Johnson fully committed to the emotional depth of the role.