The heartbreaking story behind Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's gift to his dad
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson won us over this year by dancing in a Pikachu costume and just generally being awesome.
This Christmas, he outdid himself by buying a car for his dad, Canadian wrestler Rocky Johnson. But it's not the generosity alone that had people all choked up. It's the story Dwayne shared about his father.
Rocky "never asks me for much and over the years his needs are always the barest," Dwayne starts out.
Then he tells a gut-wrenching story about his dad's childhood. It all started when Rocky, only 13 years old, had to deal with his father's death.
"That Christmas, my dad's mom had her new boyfriend over for Christmas dinner. Her boyfriend got drunk and pissed on the turkey," Dwayne wrote.
"My dad went outside, got a shovel, drew a line in the snow and said if you cross that line I'll kill you. The drunk crossed it and my dad laid him out cold as a block of ice."
In front of the entire family, my dad's mom looked at him and said get out.
"Cops were called. They told my dad's mom that when her boyfriend regains consciousness, he's gonna kill your son so one of them has got to go. In front of the entire family, my dad's mom looked at him and said get out. He was 13yrs old and now homeless. That f*cked up true story happened in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1954."
These days, Rocky isn't letting his son's fame go to his head.
"Over the years, I've moved him into a big home, got him trucks to drive - which he'll literally drive into the ground until I get him something else. Hell, I'll get him anything he wants, but the SOB just won't ask;)."
"Every Christmas, I always think about that story and my dad having every odd stacked against him at 13, but he fought thru it and still made something of himself."
Looks like he grew up to raise one hell of a son.
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
