Nearly 20 years after he divorced his first wife, Dany Garcia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson opens up about the split.
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The former WWE Superstar discussed the end of the 16-year relationship while appearing on Thursday’s episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter.
“When you get married, as a few of you may know, you sign up for the long haul,” he explained. “But then it doesn’t always work out like that. And then it rocks you like it rocked me. And we had a baby, and what kind of father was I going to be?”
Johnson also spoke about how the divorce impacted his mental health. “At that time, I was really going through it,” he recalled. “That was another bout of depression.”
The divorce made the wrestler-turned-actor reflect on the kinds of roles he wanted to take on. He decided to go with happier film roles. This included The Game Plan and Tooth Fairy.
“I was trying to figure my stuff out,” he continued. “And that was the only thing that I really wanted to do artistically. I didn’t want anything that was going to challenge me to rip my guts out, I wanted stuff that has a happy ending, and so that’s what that was.”
Despite his mental struggles at the time, Johnson said the roles were still enjoyable. “I loved making those movies. I also think I manifested those because I don’t think I was ready for anything other than easy, light, family films that made me feel good.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and His Ex Continued to Work Together Following the Divorce
Johnson and his ex maintained a positive co-parenting experience for their daughter, Simone. They even went on to become producing partners through their production company, Seven Buck Productions.
“While marriage wasn’t in our cards, we did realize, ‘Well, wait a second, we’re building something that’s pretty cool,” Johnson said about the situation. “‘Marriage may not be in our cards, but building business can be.’ And that took time.”
Johnson has since remarried. He and Lauren Hashian tied the knot in 2019. They share two other daughters, Jasmine, 9, and Tiana, 6.