Exclusive: How Dwayne Johnson Really Feels About His Daughter's WWE Career
Kevin Hart's Peacock talk show Hart to Heart is in the midst of its third season, and the comedian's latest guest is none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The movie star and former WWE pro is set to appear on the program tomorrow, and Men's Journal got an exclusive sneak peak at their conversations.
In the first clip, Johnson discusses his past in the WWE and his daughter Simone "Ava Raine" Johnson's decision to step into the ring.
"That was a special moment when my daughter Simone, my oldest daughter, said 'I want to get into the business,'" he said. "What a great sense of pride as a father. But then of course as a parent you start to think about all the pitfalls and the trappings and all the hardships and all the shit that I know she's gonna go through, because I've lived that business."
Johnson reflected on the two sides of wrestling fame, with the celebrity and crowds contrasted with the lived experience of many athletes as they travel the country.
"There's the pomp and circumstance of pro wrestling. It's the pageantry, the Wrestlemania, the bright lights, the big contracts, it's the global company," he said. "Then there's that underbelly in that world of pro wrestling. Just like being on the circuit when you're coming up as a comedian playing all these small towns and all these small clubs and all that shit that you gotta deal with. And backstage politics and all of that."
Luckily, Johnson said, he feels confident enough in his parenting that he thinks she will be able to handle anything that's thrown her way. "At the same time, as her father I have enough confidence to know that I have instilled in her, from what I knew, values, philosophy, work ethic, things like that," he said. "So man, I was so proud."
A second clip finds Johnson opening up about his entrepreneurial mindset, walking through how he approached leveling up from brand endorsements to true partnerships.
"It was having the ambition to do more," he said. "If the ambition is there to do more, okay, what do I need in place? What kind of organization do I need to level up? Who do I need to bring in? And who do I need to help me run in that direction and get to that particular thing."
He went on to encourage would-be partners to question whether they have the potential to get a bigger piece of the pie.
"So brand endorsements, sure, but do I have enough juice and power where I can take this brand endorsement, we can bring in smart people in this business, and then how can I create ownership?" he asked. "How can I get a piece of this action? How can I have real skin in the game, where for life in perpetuity, our kids' kids' kids' are getting paid?"
Johnson recently celebrated a major business milestone, moving one million cases of his Teremana tequila.
Johnson's episode of Hart to Heart airs on Peacock this Thursday, August 3.