Content warning: this post discusses mental health and a suicide attempt.
Dwayne Johnson is on the publicity trail for his wild new movie Rampage, but just because he’s promoting a movie about a giant gorilla, doesn’t mean he won’t get serious if he wants to.
In an interview published by UK outlet Express and widely shared over the weekend, Johnson opened up briefly about his worst bout of depression, and recounted stopping his mother from walking into traffic when he was a teenager.
The peak human specimen formerly known as The Rock has discussed these parts of his history before in more detail, in a 2015 installment of Oprah’s Masterclass video series.
15-year-old Dwayne managed to get to his mother in time and pull her back. He says she doesn’t remember the terrifying episode at all – but he does quite clearly, as you can see in the video above, and believes she meant to kill herself.
Now 45 and one of the highest-paid actors in the US, Johnson has also spoken about how low he felt after being cut from the Canadian Football League (and dumped by his girlfriend) when he was 23 – before he became a wildly popular professional wrestler, actor, and human.
“I reached a point where I didn’t want to do a thing or go anywhere,” he said. “I was crying constantly.”
Yes, even the most motivated man in the world once found it impossible to get out of bed. And if you don’t feel a deep existential pain at the idea of a baby-faced Dwayne Johnson wearing a dirty t-shirt and crying numbly into his pillow, I don’t know what to tell you.
The new interview hit a nerve and went a little viral – probably partly because the man could sit on a chair eating a muesli bar and make it charming, but also because it’s heartening to see someone as relentlessly handsome, successful and hypermasculine as him be so emotionally vulnerable.
And plenty of people, especially men, still need extra encouragement to open up if they’re battling with mental health stuff – but it’s not a stretch to think that every time someone uses their platform to be open about their own battles, it could help someone feel like they can do the same.
Basically, I choose to believe that Emotionally Vulnerable Dwayne Johnson saves lives – and while we can’t all match him in terms of gains, at least we can aspire to taking better care of our brains.
Got tons of responses to this. Thank you. We all go thru the sludge/shit and depression never discriminates. Took me a long time to realize it but the key is to not be afraid to open up. Especially us dudes have a tendency to keep it in. You’re not alone
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 2, 2018
If you need mental health support, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14. There’s also MensLine on 1300 78 99 78. Both are completely confidential, free and available 24 hours a day.