Who is Dwayne Johnson's first wife? Meet Dany Garcia who still produces The Rock's movies after 2008 divorce
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has become a household name since his time as a wrestler (WWF, then WWE) and since then, his time as an actor, saying superstar at this point probably wouldn't even cut it. The Rock's reputation in the industry has been rather positive, from his interviews to his movies and even his family life, his fans have always had his back. The actor seems to be a nice guy for the most part and values the importance of relationships.
Many who have been following the life of Johnson knows that he has been married twice — to Dany Garia from 1997-2008 and then to Lauren Hashian in 2019. But did you know that Garcia still produces her ex-husband's films? To be fair though, it doesn't come as a surprise that The Rock would be on good terms with his ex-wife.
Read on to learn more about who Garcia is and her relationship with Johnson since their 2008 divorce.
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Who is Dany Garcia?
According to distractify, Garcia, who was born on November 29, 1969, was "integral" in her ex-husband's success after he had left wrestling to pursue acting. The duo had married on May 3, 1997, after they met earlier at the University of Miami; Dwayne was 18 at the time and Garcia was 21.
They also share a daughter named Simone Garcia Johnson., whom they welcomed in August 2001. On June 1, 2007, the couple announced that they were separating, with The Rock moving on and dating his current wife Lauren Hashian in the same year. Their divorce was finalized in 2008. The publication also revealed that when the couple had split, they had "promised" to keep this "amicable" — they even took it one step further.
Garcia, who grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, had majored in International Marketing and Finance at the University of Miami and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelors degree. She had then become the Associate Vice President at Merrill Lynch and ended up starting a wealth management firm called JDM Partners LLC in the year 2002.
Turns out that exes can be friends, as Johnson ended up asking Garcia to manage him with his acting career. So, having prior worked in finance at Merrill Lynch in 1992, Garica moved on to manage her ex-husband in 2008.
The duo are also co-founders of the production company Seven Bucks Productions (since 2012) which has an umbrella of movies that The Rock stars in such as 'Hobbs and Shaw', 'Baywatch' and 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.' In an interview with Marie Claire, Garcia spoke about working with Johnson. She said, "From the time Dwayne was playing football at University of Miami, to wrestling in the WWE, to emerging in film, I was always in the background guiding him, giving counsel, and adding a business point of view to all the decisions."
"So I was always very comfortable speaking with his agents or his attorneys, any of the financial individuals, or even the studio executives because I knew every film is boxed into a business model... I did have to overcome judgments like, 'Wait, is his ex-wife managing him?' People are trying to put you in a category, not in a bad way, but just so they know how to relate. I had to become very comfortable, very quickly, with creating a new paradigm: 'Yes, I am his manager. Yes, we were once married. Now, let's go build sh*t together.'"
She's also the founder of The Garcia Companies, a media company that represents the likes of Idris Elba and Henry Cavill. Garcia, too, has moved on since her divorce in 2007 and married Dave Rienzi, a bodybuilder in the year 2014. Interestingly, the publication reveals that Riene works as his wife's ex-husband's personal trainer. It seems there is no bad blood at all.
If that's not enough for Garcia's talents, she is also an IFBB professional bodybuilder. She had first competed in the year 2011 and earned her IFBB Pro card in 2015.
She is also the first-ever Women's Physique Division athlete to be signed to the Weider roster. Furthermore, Variety reported that Dwayne and Garcia had acquired XFL together, resulting in Garcia becoming the first woman to own an entire professional sports league.
She is also finishing a 30-minute HBO series about "a backyard wrestling league" and has invested in Acorns, ice cream company Salt & Straw and Voss water. According to Latintrends, Garcia has also served as a trustee for both the University of Miami and FIU and as a Post-President of the UM Alumni Association. In 2008, she also founded The Beacon Experience described as "a foundation that works with at-risk children to empower them to break economic and social barriers and extend their education beyond high school."
Speaking about his relationship with Garcia now, Johson told CNN in an interview, "I made a lot of mistakes. I didn't have the ability or the capacity to stop for the moment and say, 'God, I'm really screwing up. Let's talk about this.' I can't tell you what it was then. I can tell you today that I value our relationship. When I love you, I can really love you, whether it's my ex-wife, girlfriend, or my little girl, or my guys, my buddies. Whatever it is, I value that relationship. It's so incredibly loving and seamless what we have. The best part about it is the example we're setting for our little girl."
You can watch the interview below.