In a new magazine interview, the 'Hercules' star also recalls moment when he learned of Paul Walker's sudden passing, saying that he 'started bawling' when he reached home.
- Jun 19, 2014
AceShowbiz - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is featured on the front page of The Hollywood Reporter, which hits the newsstands on June 27. The "Hercules" star, who sports a simple green t-shirt on the front page, shares a story of his younger years where he hit rock bottom and dealt with depression in an interview with the magazine.
"I didn't want to do a thing," he says of his struggle with depression back then. I didn't want to go anywhere. I was crying constantly. Eventually you reach a point where you are all cried out." Johnson shares that his family was evicted from home when he was 14 and later he was forced to quit football because of injuries.
"We were living in an efficiency that cost $120 a week," the "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" star tells the publication. "We come home, and there's a padlock on the door and an eviction notice. My mom starts bawling. She just started crying and breaking down. 'Where are we going to live? What are we going to do?' "
"That was the tipping point. It was about, 'What can I control with these two hands?' The only thing I could do was train and build my body. The successful men I knew were men who built their bodies," he continues. Johnson then kept building his body and he was accepted to the University of Miami with full football scholarship.
His injuries, however, affected his chance to play in the NFL. In 1995, he was signed to Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders before he was let go. "There is no more football. My relationship was crushed. That was my absolute worst time... I looked in my pocket, and I had seven bucks. Wow. Seven bucks to my name," he says. Johnson then started his career as a wrestler and gained fame as an actor with "The Mummy Returns" which led to more acting opportunities.
In the interview, Johnson also talks about moments he learned of friend and co-star Paul Walker's sudden passing in fiery car crash in November. "I was driving with [girlfriend] Lauren [Hashian] when she immediately turned very quiet and was looking at me, studying, wondering if I knew," he recalls.
"I pulled over and looked at my messages and had a moment where I just caught my breath. We said a prayer right then to give his daughter strength - because we had talked about our daughters. That's what we would talk about. Both of us were divorced, and we talked about the power of being a dad and the strong connection of a dad and his girl. Then once we got home, we started bawling," Johnson adds.
