One might have been a bit skeptical when Dwayne Johnson, a wrestler, became an actor, but it didn’t take him long to blow away all the assumptions anyone had ever had. He is honest, self-aware, hilarious and extremely positive, which are all the reasons why people worship him. Moreover, today this guy is at the top of most Hollywood power lists, and his status will only be cemented with the latest project, Jumanji. In a recent interview he talked about actual news, so let’s see what he said.
Since the name of the story is “Dwayne Johnson Makes Beautiful Music” he started off the interview with a joke, saying that the last time he made some was when he and his girlfriend practiced making babies. As far as the literal sense of that, he enjoys listening to all kinds of music from the moment he wakes up. And then he mentioned the other beautiful music which makes people happy, the same as when they come home from one of his movies.
Upon being asked how his empire was, he responded in his own manner, saying that it’s coming along nicely, with him always surrounded by women, starting from two daughters, a girlfriend, his mother, to nannies, housekeepers, etc. He continued talking about how he manages to do everything with such positivity and rigor, saying that he always starts his day being grateful for everything he has. After experiencing hardships, such as divorce or great poverty this man learned to be motivated by gratitude. He likes to wake up before his baby Jasmine does, which is somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 and get his work done.
On some other days, when he can’t be his best self, he takes a 30-minute break and figures what’s letting him down and why he’s feeling down that day. It sometimes just takes time to work out what caused it and become able to break it down. In case he can’t do that himself, Lauren will give him a hand and be by his side. Dwayne also said that he is very emotional and can go through a wide range of emotions quickly, meaning that he tends to say stuff he regrets at the very moment. However, there is his 16-year-old daughter Simone and Lauren to help him through it and to become more rational.
As far as his childhood is concerned, he was an only child and had a very gypsy lifestyle, as he would put it. They used to live in a small flat and move to another city the moment his father’s job as a local professional wrestler demanded that. Johnson was quite the opposite of what he is today. Due to this way of living, he used to be a loner and be by himself a lot. Not until his professional wrestling career did he know that it’s incredibly gratifying to make people happy apart from achieving something. Furthermore, when he made the transition to movies, Dwayne realized that it’s one of the most valuable things. He enjoys making others happy and adores the feeling he gets after mission accomplished.
Since he is very active on social media, he talked a bit about that, as well. He said that it is like a marriage to him, as you have to take care of it, commit to it and foster it.
When he was asked what made him feel strong, The Rock said it was the accomplishment. He’s been with Lauren for more than 10 years, and they overcame many challenges and troubles. When it comes to business, his achievement is being able to come back up after getting punched in the gut every once in a while. His weakness, however, is being unable to see a mistake he made right away. Dwayne gets disappointed when he looks at the wake he left behind, which makes him feel weak.
As far as his role in real life is concerned, he thinks that the most important thing is authenticity and being as real as you can be. In the past Johnson had quite a hard time being himself, so he needed first to make sure everyone around him was aligned with how he felt. He isn’t ashamed of who he is or where he came from or the size God gave him.
Last, but not least, he talked about recent presidential notions. It all started with a piece in The Washington Post around almost two years ago. When it got to the point where it was simply impossible to ignore, he said that of course he would consider a run. The famous actor was then asked how he would buck people up. He said that what bothers him is the lack of leadership that wants to bring everybody together and listen, adding that he believes in dialogue. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about politics or some other field. He took the latest issue on their national anthem and individual NFL players who want to kneel, as well as the pro basketball players and Steph Curry who declined the offer to come to the White House, saying that it was the president’s perfect opportunity to invite him and speak to him in order to see where the problem was. He also expressed his hope that in the future people will be heard by a better leadership and won’t need to kneel as a last resort.
He finished the interview by talking a bit about Jumanji and his character in the movie, stating that he has a lot of dork in him too. As his role is a dorky teenager trapped in a hunk’s body, he says that he makes dumb jokes or gets really silly himself, but who doesn’t? Finally, he concluded by saying that he’s just living the dream, which he certainly does in a perfect way.
