Dwayne Johnson is recalling his “complicated relationship” with late dad Rocky for Father’s Day.
On Monday, Johnson, 51, shared a video on Instagram in which he acknowledged he felt “there was something I’d missed” in his Sunday Father’s Day post before sympathizing with “all the fathers out there like me, who on this day, we don’t have the privilege anymore of wishing our own dads a happy Father’s Day.”
Johnson, who appeared in a sweat-soaked hoodie and shorts in the video he said he decided to make while working out, said the holiday can prove “a tricky thing that we have to contend with.”
“Especially if there’s a lot of guys out there, like me, who had a tough love, complicated relationship with our fathers. I had that with my old man, I know a lot of you guys did as well. So it’s tricky, because they’re not here now and we wish they were,” Johnson said, referencing his own father, the Canadian pro wrestler who died at 75 in January 2020.
“I wish he was here one more time so I can say, ‘Hey, I love you, happy Father’s Day, thank you for raising me with the capacity you did have, even though at times it was complicated and at times we fought.’ But we don’t have that privilege, so it’s tricky,” he continued in the video.
The Black Adam actor went on to urge fans who hold complicated relationships with their own fathers to “try and reconcile that stuff, try and bring it back together” before sharing that he and Rocky were not on speaking terms at the time of his death.
“I got in the biggest fight with my old man during Christmas 2019, the biggest fight I ever got in with him in my life, his as well with me. We fought,” he explained in the video.
“We weren’t talking, or I wasn’t talking, and three weeks later he dropped dead, and that was it. I never had a chance to say goodbye and I never even had a chance to reconcile what we were going through. I got goosebumps right now.”
“Do your best to reconcile because the alternative is something could happen and all of a sudden you’re writing the eulogy for your dad’s funeral, like I found myself,” Johnson said. “I woke up one day and he was gone, and I had to write that eulogy and deliver it. I don’t want that for you guys.”
“If you have an opportunity, if your old man is around and you do have a shot to reconcile it,” he added, before saying: “All our dads [who are] up in heaven are looking down on us now. Hopefully they’re proud of what they see.”
Johnson has acknowledged his complicated relationship with Rocky in the past.
For Father’s Day in 2022, the actor encouraged his followers to “raise our glass and try to remember the good stuff” after he noted “that s— was complicated” between him and his father.
In the caption to his video on Monday, Johnson wrote, “My old man died suddenly a few years ago. Unfortunately, we got in a fight about a month earlier and I never reconciled with him or even had a chance to say goodbye.”
“So for me, every Father’s Day has become very tricky because there’s a lot pain,” he continued. “But every Father’s Day is also one of my greatest days because I have three amazing daughters who tell me, I love you and Happy Fathers Day.”
Wrote Johnson, “To my guys out there, if your old man is still around – consider it a blessing. Even if you and your dad are working thru some complicated s—. I’ve been there and I understand. But do your best to reconcile and get that drama behind you and get right with your dad.
It’s important.”
“Because the alternative is regret,” he added, “and I don’t want that for you.”
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