Dwayne Johnson Discusses Depression and the Extremes of Being a Movie Star

Movies

It’s hard to think of a time where Dwayne Johnson wasn’t on top. He dominated the WWE and became a blockbuster movie star afterwards. It’s also hard to think of a more positive person in Hollywood, but as Johnson explains, it wasn’t always easy and it still isn’t to this day. Johnson is very open and honest with his fans on social media and he is practically always working to keep his fans updated on what his next move is. In a new interview, he discusses just how hard it was to get to where he is and the struggle to maintain it.

Before The Rock’s WWE success and way before the big screen accolades, Dwayne Johnson played college football and had his eyes set on going pro and playing in the NFL. As with anything he does, he threw his life into it and didn’t make it, which is when he found himself depressed for a spell. In the end, he decided that self-empathy was the way to keep moving, noting that he needed to figure out for himself that life goes on.

After Dwayne Johnson conquered depression with self-care, he became a WWE superstar and then one of Hollywood’s highest paid actors. In fact, 2019 saw Johnson become the highest paid actor in the world, which he doesn’t really like to talk about. He prefers to call himself, “bankable.” He had this to say about working in the entertainment industry.

“So, what it takes to become… we’ll just say a bankable actor – you guys could say ‘biggest movie star in the world’ – it takes, again, hard work and it takes perseverance. And again it takes context and perspective, especially when you get into this world of Hollywood and the business of Hollywood. Because it is so demanding and it’s incredibly difficult.”

Dwayne Johnson has Hobbs & Shaw, Jumanji: The Next Level, the Fast and Furious franchise, and way too many other successful movies under his belt to name in one article. Even after making all of the money, the struggle isn’t over for Johnson. Being a public figure is something that the actor takes very seriously. Johnson explains.

“Yes, being in the ring is incredibly difficult, but the scope of the audience and the world that you now entertain and are responsible for in movies is global. This is why it requires a consistent and very constant daily hard work. And also, very very important is trust your gut and trust your instincts on what the audience will really enjoy and love. That’s the most important thing.”

While Dwayne Johnson likes to joke around in his interviews a lot, this was not one where he did. When sharing the interview on social media, he revealed that he would like to show it to his daughters when they get old enough to appreciate it. As for keeping his career going, Johnson is going to continue to do what he always has done, which is work harder than anyone else in the room. You can watch the interview below, thanks to Dwayne Johnson’s Twitter account.

Kevin Burwick at Movieweb

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