Forever remembered. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared the heartfelt eulogy he gave at his father Rocky Johnson’s funeral service in a video posted via Instagram on Friday, February 7.
“Man, I wish I had … I wish I had one more shot,” the Central Intelligence star, 47, began. “I wish I had one more shot to say goodbye … to say I love you, to say thank you, but I have a feeling he’s watching. He’s listening.”
Dwayne went on to detail how he discovered his father’s death. Rocky, who was born Wayde Douglas Bowles, died at the age of 75 in January.
“I was on my way to work, the other day on January 15 and I was just pulling into work and we were shooting that day and it was the very first day of production,” he said. “Lauren [his wife] was with our babies, she was with my mom and she said, ‘You know, I really can’t talk … I think you should call Cora though’, so, of course, I called Cora.”
The Jumanji actor recalled finding out the tragic news at work and remembered that it was “like it was a big dream” but he realized he had to move forward for his father’s memory.
“You know how you have those moments where you try and shake yourself out of it, and you’re like, ‘No, it’s not a dream. … My dad’s gone,’” Dwayne said. “In that moment, I just thought ‘Well, what do I need to do? What’s the next thing that I need to do?’”
He added, “And I heard a voice say, ‘Well, hey, the show must go on,’ and that was my dad. That was my old man who told me that.”
Rocky embarked on his wrestling career in the mid-1960s and retired in 1991. The former wrestler was known as “Soul Man” and made up one half of a wrestling duo with Tony Atlas. The pair made history as the first African-American World Tag Team champions in WWE history.
Dwayne carried on his father’s legacy and started his wrestling career in 1996 before leaving in 2004. He returned to the ring in 2011 and officially retired from the WWE in August 2019.
In March 2019, Dwayne shared via Instagram that he had purchased his father a new home to thank him for his support over the years. The actor revealed that the gift was especially touching for his father.
“My dad’s an old-school tough guy,” Dwayne wrote. “[He said], ‘No one ever called to tell me they were gonna buy me a house before and the fact that it’s you, it’s my son. I’m so proud of you and I love you so much.’”
