Dwayne Johnson Shares That He Experienced 'Bouts of Depression'; Including After His Divorce
Dwayne Johnson is one of the biggest movie stars of all time, but he is also a man who has always been open about the challenges that he has faced and overcome in his life.
In a recent interview with The Pivot podcast last week, Johnson opened up about facing "three bouts of depression" in his life, including once after an injury killed his NFL dreams.
"I'd gone through two, three bouts of depression over the course of years, and the football one for me was a big one," Johnson told hosts Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor & Ryan Clark.
He went on to say that he didn't realize what he was dealing with at the time. "My first bout of depression was down there in Miami. Didn't want to go to school. I was ready to leave. I left school. I didn't take any midterms and I just left."
"But the interesting thing, at that time, is I just didn't know what it was. I didn't know what mental health was. I didn't know what depression was. I just knew I didn't want to be there. Wasn't going to any of the team meetings. Wasn't participating in anything."
He added that the second depressive episode came after divorcing Dany Garcia who was, at the time, his wife and business manager--again, he explained that he didn't understand what he was feeling at the time. It wasn't until a third episode in 2017 that he began to take a journey into improving his mental health.
"Years later, around 2017 or so, went through a little bit. Knew what it was at that time. And luckily, at that time, I had some friends who I could lean on and say, 'You know, I'm feeling a little wobbly now. Got a little struggle happening. I'm seeing a little gray and not the blue.'"
He added that he also had support from his three daughters, Simone Garcia Johnson, Jasmine Johnson, and Tiana Gia Johnson whom he called his "saving grace."
"The saving grace for me has really been my daughters, the three of them, and being a girl dad, that's been the saving grace. You look at them, and you realize, 'Well, I mean, really, this is what it's all about."
The 51-year-old actor also encouraged men to understand and take better care of their mental health saying, "I've worked hard over the years to gain the emotional tools to work through any mental pain that may come to test me. As men, we didn't talk about it. We just kept our head down and worked through it. Not healthy, but it's all we knew."
He added, "If you're going through your own version of mental wellness turning into mental hell-ness, the most important thing you can do is talk to somebody," he said. "Having the courage to talk to someone is your superpower."
