The Rock just shared the most powerful story about his dad on Instagram
You may not know this (or expect it to be true), but The Rock has over 73 million Instagram followers. (Yeah, that’s more than Kendall Jenner’s got.)
Makes sense: Dwayne Johnson is a lovable celebrity who plays the tough guy in movies like the Fast & Furious franchise, but we all somehow know he’s a big softy when the cameras turn off.
Last year, The Rock even opened up about his battle with depression. After being barred from the NFL as well as a Canadian football team, all the rejection left him at a really low point. He had to reach out for help — and he encouraged people to do the same if they’re struggling with a mental illness.
Yesterday, The Rock shared another heartfelt moment.
Johnson posted a picture of himself and his dad — and the car he bought him for Christmas — on Instagram. In the caption, he told a heartbreaking yet inspiring story about his dad when he was a teenager.
In the post, Johnson wrote he always thinks about his dad every Christmas. In particular, how he had “every odd stacked against him… but he fought thru it and still made something of himself.” When his dad was 13, Johnson’s grandfather died. The following Christmas, his grandmother’s boyfriend, who was clearly an abusive figure, “got drunk and pissed on the turkey.” The Rock’s father wasn’t going to put up with that.
“My dad went outside, got a shovel, drew a line in the snow and said if you cross that line I’ll kill you,” The Rock writes. “The drunk crossed it and my dad laid him out cold as a block of ice. Cops were called.”
When the cops showed up, they looked at the mother and told her to choose between her son and her boyfriend.
Instead of kicking out her drunk boyfriend, she told her 13-year-old son to go.
Since then, and still to this day, The Rock’s father has “needed the bare minimum.” He never asks for anything, even though The Rock would give him anything he wanted, and every truck he buys him “he’ll literally drive into the ground until I get him something else.”
But it’s all been a major source of inspiration for Dwayne.
"[His story] makes me appreciate his struggle and hard work," The Rock says.
“[My dad] made a man outta me,” Johnson wrote. “Without pissing on my turkey.”
We sure hope his dad enjoys the new car!
