"That was my absolute worst time": Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson talks about his battle with depression
Dwayne Johnson has found with depression for a long time in his life and the actor is now coming forward and talking about it. In an interview with Express, Dwayne talks about things going from bad to worse in his life that the only solution he thought was to cry.
"I reached a point where I didn’t want to do a thing or go anywhere. I was crying constantly," he confessed. In the past, Dwayne has spoken about how he tried to stay positive in his life despite facing poverty as a child and after being evicted from their Tennessee apartment. However, things hit rock bottom after his mother, Ata Johnson, tried to commit suicide when he was 15.
"She got out of the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic," he said. "Big rigs and cars were swerving out of the way." Luckily for him, he was there to save his mother. I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road," he recalled.
"What’s crazy about that suicide attempt is that to this day, she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Probably best she doesn’t." After this incident, Dwayne thought that things will turn out to be good after he was selected by Canadian Football League. However, his dreams of being a professional football player were also shattered after he suffered from numerous injuries and he had to drop out of the team in a year.
To make things worse, it was also the time Dwayne's girlfriend broke up with him. "That was my absolute worst time," he said. Despite this, life sure did have better plans for the actor as he was able to get back on his feet and become successful. In 2000 he ruled the wrestling ring and he believes his dedication to not give up had been the guiding source and confessed that if it wasn't this way, he might have attempted suicide like his mother.
"We both healed but we’ve always got to do our best to pay attention when other people are in pain," he said. "We have to help them through it and remind them they are not alone." In the past, Dwayne has always encouraged people to come forward and talk about mental health.