Our future president, Dwayne Johnson — also known as The Rock — is opening up about his experience with depression. And it’s a doozy. The actor shared this a month after posting an Instagram about his mother’s suicide attempt.
“My mom tried to check out when I was 15,” he wrote in the post. “She got outta the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic. Big rigs and cars swerving outta the way not to hit her. I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road. What’s crazy about that suicide attempt is to this day, she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Probably best she doesn’t.”
The 45-year-old recently elaborated to The Express about the experience, saying, “I reached a point where I didn’t want to do a thing or go anywhere. I was crying constantly.”
He continued, “Struggle and pain is real. I was devastated and depressed.”
Dwayne Johnson and his mother, Ata Johnson at the premiere for Moana. Getty
But he has a message of hope, too. “We both healed but we’ve always got to do our best to pay attention when other people are in pain,” he said to the site. “We have to help them through it and remind them they are not alone.”
He continued on Twitter, “We all go thru the sludge/sh*t 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.” Aw.
Don’t know about y’all, but The Rock is just muscly, compassionate and self-aware enough for me to say The Rock 2020! (Kidding! Let’s elect people with actual political experience, thank you, bye.)
