Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Answers Increasingly Personal Questions | Slow Zoom | Vanity Fair

All right let's reset there. does that plane hurt your sound or no uh, yeah, okay, . what's your name my name is dwayne. johnson also known as the rock la rocca, uncle handsome, sexiest man alive i have a lot of names, sometimes what are you obsessed with right now that's a good question, right now i am obsessed with. building. things with my own two hands i'm obsessed with building. brands and businesses. and i'm also obsessed with being a great father and being a really great, daddy to my babies and great father to my three daughters i am, obsessed with that, where do you feel at peace, i feel at peace when i'm somewhat isolated. and what i mean by that is my family is. with me of course. or sometimes they're not, but uh i'm at peace when i'm really surrounded by nothing but, mother nature. and there's no one else around that's when i feel at peace what never fails to make you emotional i could think about my babies and get emotional i can think about my babies. and hear. uh. old traditional um. songs from, uh. from the islands, samoan songs hawaiian songs uh. they'll. get me emotional um. so yeah a handful of things that will. get me emotional, what piece of advice would you give to. someone who's reckoning with a difficult past. well the piece of advice i would give to somebody who's reckoning with a. difficult past is that it's exactly that it is the past. and we've all been there we all have, challenges from our past, we have demons from our past. um. some bigger than others um. and, the good news is. you have an opportunity to influence. and direct your future. you have an opportunity to influence. your right now, and, while the past that you'd gone through, may be challenging and difficult uh maybe embarrassing you can't hide from it you can't erase it you can learn from, it, and you can help influence other people from it too as well. when in your life did you feel most, abandoned that's a tough one to answer that's a. real tough one to answer about a band. about abandonment i think that's between me and a few of the other loved ones. what's the most important thing to remember when you're dealing with, extreme pressure i think the most important thing to remember when you're dealing with, extreme pressure uh for me is to. stay calm. and, it's in the calmness uh. amidst the calamity that you're going through that you try to gain your, clarity and gain your focus because it. helps you make the decision and i also. found that. i'm in a position these days where. in a highly stressful situation. there are a lot of people who look to me, and my reactions to something that will in turn inform how they respond and how. they react to the stress uh or the difficult scenario so i try to keep those things in mind try to remain calm, and make the best decision possible. you got the good questions you have the. answers well i got something did you work out this morning i did i worked out i had a good one today how many meals a. day do you eat, well i eat roughly five to. six meals a day any habits you're trying to break. i have a habit of. stopping meetings and calling someone, out if i think they're full of. because i do feel that a lot of times in some of these business meetings you'll find, individuals who, are successful but it's very interesting, to me that, they have become successful despite the, fact that i think they're full of, and they know they vote they're full of, so i'm trying to break that habit because

uh. it tends to send the meeting uh, sideways what is the rock afraid of the rock is afraid of absolutely everything, what does it mean to be a man well, i think. i think what it means to be a man is to, be accountable is to be accountable and stand up to the mistakes you've made it's okay to up it, happens to all of us. um and be open rip yourself open be vulnerable i've all i've been there. we've all been there. um you know the benefit of doing something like that is on the other side. of that. usually is some sort of uh progress and how important that is it's also in my opinion. , uh the quality, of being a man is, doing what you say you're going to do. and taking matters into your own hands, sometimes but. if you look somebody in the eye you, shake their hand you give them a hug or you give them your word, it's important to. do it. or do your best to see it through when in your life did you feel least. comfortable in your own skin, i felt least comfortable in my own skin. on two occasions when i first started as a professional wrestler i was told back. then that you can't smile enough you got. to be happy every time you go out there. you have to be so joyous at the opportunity that you have i wasn't reacting authentically and i was being a, very uh. button-down, saccharine version of who i actually was. at that time in the world of. professional wrestling the other time. that, that happened to me was when i made the transition to hollywood and at that time. a few years into my hollywood career, approximately the mid-2000s. i was told then, that i had to lose weight, i had to change my eating habits diet. uh couldn't go to the gym as much i. really had to slim down. i had to not reference the name the rock i had to, do. uh as best i could not mention or. reference the world i came from that i. was proud to come from the world of professional wrestling so at that time. when there is no blueprint for somebody, who looked like me walk talk walk like me, so at that time, uh when there was no blueprint for, somebody like me half black half samoan. i look how i look i talk how i look i'm sorry let me do that again you can't be big you can't go to the gym you can't call yourself the rock let's not talk, about pro wrestling, well you buy into that, as i did. until one of two things is going to. um you're either gonna continue to go. down that road and that path and you're gonna be miserable. and eventually your career is probably gonna fizzle out you're not gonna have. any sense of longevity or quality to it or the other thing that's gonna happen. you're gonna say this. uh i'm gonna be me and um we're gonna see what happens and i think in that authenticity moment that moment of clarity. um a funny thing happened in the world. of professional wrestling and a funny thing happened in the world of hollywood. uh both industries conformed. to my authenticity and. um allowed me to be me. and that's when things changed, feeling good i should yeah i'm feeling great i should have asked you earlier can i cuss on this thing oh yeah okay cool. because you're about to get a lot of. right now watch this. here they come. when in your life did you realize you'd. made it, um well there was a moment where i first started my pro wrestling career and of, course when you wrestle and you. and you go to the venue whether it's at. a flea market or whether it's at an. arena uh everyone knows you there so the, adulation is strong um i had landed in some midwest city. had to drive to another city and i was driving through a small town i stopped, at a gas station and, i got some gas and got some other things, and the person behind the counter said. um are you the rock, and it threw me because no one had ever recognized me outside of the world of, pro wrestling outside of the arenas. so i said yeah,

i am the rock um and i was like offering, autographs you want a picture do you, want to like you know i was that i was so excited and i was so happy that i thought man. i think i made it as a pro wrestler this. person behind this counter at this cash, register just asked me if i was the rock what's the best thing about being famous, hands down without a shadow of a doubt the best thing about being famous is. making people happy, what's the worst thing about being, famous, uh you'll never hear me complain about. fame i know what the alternative is, um, to not being famous, but no fame is. a blessing so. there is no worse thing about being. famous. do you ever get the chance to forget, you're a celebrity not really no uh you know i i'm just i, am, i'm the size of a dinosaur i'm as i'm as old as a dinosaur and so it's not like i could put on a hat or glasses or hide or anything like that. um so i'm you know that the thought of anonymity. and forgetting i am a celebrity is, that's gone out the window many many. years ago but every once in a while uh. it's nice when i can isolate myself. either on my farm or. certain places um in the islands where i don't see anyone and don't interact with, anybody except my family those are nice. times where. you know, you're not reminded as often but again, not a problem, not a problem i'm not complaining, . what keeps you up at night, well that's a good one . what keeps me up at night is, everything, honestly it's everything it's how it's. all going to shake out the next day uh, how my babies are going to be business relationships you know we're, always thinking and planning and working, on the now and the tomorrow so. it all keeps me up at night which is why, which is why i love putting my babies to sleep i put my wife to, sleep and, i'll pour myself a drink and i'll just, sit quietly and enjoy the drink and i'll think about, how it's all going to shake out if people could remember one thing about, you what would you want it to be. , people could remember, one thing about me. it would be, it would be whatever i loved. and whoever i loved, i loved with great, fiery. passion . and, um, if people could remember something else about me it would be that that i took care of things that needed to be taken care of and i took matters into my own hands and i operated. with the understanding that you got to take action, to take care of the things that need to. be taken care of when in your career did you feel most vulnerable. in my career i felt most vulnerable when. i wasn't able to be myself my true self my. authentic self we hear that all the time, how important it is be yourself it's the. most powerful thing you can be. and that's true. and and it is the most powerful thing we can, be and when we're not. um being ourselves, we really bump up against that emotionally and that's when vulnerability can creep in and so for me i was most vulnerable in my career um in, pro wrestling when i wasn't able to be, myself until i was and in the world of hollywood when i was. told, you know in order to achieve a certain. status um you gotta act like this walk like this talk like this lose weight et cetera et cetera and you buy into it i was vulnerable at. that time uh and i take responsibility for it of, course because i was the one who made. the final decisions on those things, um, so, i wasn't able to be myself until i was and then the vulnerability went away, that's it, did you add you got all the questions in every single one every single one are, you sure yeah all right, you happy all right there you go. greatly i love this man thank you so. much what wonderful questions.