I learned so much from my dad. Work ethic, discipline. But at the same time, I also know what it's like not to be hugged. Now I turn to my daughters and it's, Oh, you want to paint my face? Get the paint. How many colors do you want to put on? Do you want this? Do you want to do that? You want to hit me in the balls? Okay, great. I'm going to close my eyes. I know it's coming. He grabbed a shovel, a big shovel, my dad did, and drew a line in the dirt and said, If you cross that line, I'm going to kill you. The drunk asshole crossed the line. He knocked them out. Cold as a block of ice.

43 or 46 % of the country would love the idea of Dwayne Johnson running for President. I mean, it either means you are the paragon of what people would hope a leader would be, or it means things have gotten so bad that they like, We need somebody who's going to come in here and lay the smackdown on everybody. Do you know.

What I mean? I do.

If there's one thing I've always loved, it's having a spirited conversation. I've always loved how the words coming out of another person's mouth can change how the mush in your brain processes or sees the world that it's seen a certain way for such a long time. It feels like these days, though, we might be losing that ability or it's become a little bit harder. A few days ago, I was at an event and people were having really interesting and dynamic conversations, conversations about really difficult topics: men, women, young, and all the like. And every few minutes, somebody would start their opinion with the phrase, Now, I would never say this in public, but... Or I would never say this if I was being recorded, but... I found that fascinating. So many of us have opinions and ideas about the world that we live in that we are either unable, unwilling, or too scared to share. I thought to myself, if we cannot have conversations about difficult things, if the conversations themselves are now the difficult things, then what hope do we have of fixing the difficult things? I almost think of it like a minefield.

One of the most dangerous places you can ever walk into is a minefield because you do not know where they are. You do not know when your last step may be. All you know is at any moment, something could blow up. But the danger comes when you step into the minefield. Imagine if discussing how to navigate the minefield was as dangerous as the minefield itself. That's what I feel like we're living in now. And so in this podcast on this episode and with every single episode that follows, I hope to get into those conversations. Let's chat about the things that make us uncomfortable. Let's chat to the people who make us uncomfortable. Let's come to consensus. Let's walk away still fighting, but understanding each other a little bit more. But most importantly, let's have the conversation. This is What Now with Trevor Noah. When talking about conversations, I can't help but think of all the people I have conversations with: the team I'm working with on this podcast, the team I worked with at The Daily Show, Christiana, when we were there. I remember, and I still have this with my friends, I remember a world where friends did not agree.

I remember a world where married couples did not vote the same. Now it feels like people aren't allowed to be friends with somebody or won't allow themselves to be friends with somebody who doesn't agree on even one topic, just one topic, literally one thing that you might disagree on. And that's the end now. It's like, Nope, we cannot be friends. Whereas before you would say, We are friends, but, Oh, God, I hope they don't bring up that thing because they know we're going to punch each other. Where I'd be like, I trust you and I love you, but your opinions on football? Trash. Absolute trash. You know nothing about the game. Don't speak. I'm going to fight with you. And we'd laugh about this. Let me ask you this, and I know this because I argue with you and you have my friend, but in your just completely private, non-professional connected life, do you have friends that you don't agree with?

Oh, none of my friends agree with me. My husband doesn't even agree with me because I'm an extremist. But that's the position I like to occupy. But the people in my circle, I know at their core, they're good. I think the issue that we have now is that people think a bad politic or a politic that is different from your own means that the other person is a bad person.

Which I don't think is true. Say more about that. What do you mean by that?

Because I know people who on paper have great politics or what's considered acceptable progressive politics right now, but in practice, in real life, they're like shitty people. Like I speak all the time, I used to go to these dinner parties in Brooklyn and all of these progressive men voting the right way and are very feminists. There'd be women in the kitchen doing all the cooking. These are white men, by the way, bringing out the wine that when the cheese was done, women bringing out the cheese and women would cook, and then when it was all done, it'd be women who would clear up. And these men are like, We're feminist. Your body, your choice.

One of my favourite interactions I ever had was when I first started on The Daily Show, I got thousands and thousands of hate tweets every single day. That's all Twitter was in my life was just, You're trash. You're trash. You're trash. You shouldn't be on the show. And there was one guy in particular, it was interesting. He was mean, but he was funny. And I always appreciate funny. I don't care how mean you are. If you can be funny, I will separate the two and I go, You know what? That was funny. I can appreciate that. And this guy said something and I DMed him and I said, Hey, I'm really intrigued about why why you hate me so much. You don't know me. You don't seem to have ever watched anything I've created. Why do you hate me this much? I will never forget his next tweet to me was, Oh, hey, man. Literally. He had exclamations. He wrote, Oh, dude, I don't even really hate you like that. I just thought it was funny to pile on. Then he said something along the lines of he said, Look, and to be honest, I don't think you're going to make it.

I think you're going to crash the show. But good luck to you, man. I wish you the best, and I actually think you're pretty funny. And then I responded to him, and I said, Wait, so you think I'm going to crash and burn? And he said, Yes. And I said, Okay, let's make a deal. I said, If I lost six months, promise me you'll watch the show for as long as I'm there. And he was like, Oh, yeah, you're going to lose this deal, but it's a deal. And I promise you now, from that day, every few months, we would tweet each other and would be like a random DM, and we'd say what's up? We'd talk to each other. And I was fascinated by how different this person was when I had an actual direct connection with them versus when it was this theoretical throwing of a stone at a moving vehicle as opposed to the... That's what I always think of is like I go... A lot of the time, I think the reason we are the way we are in traffic is because we aren't with each other. It's a lot harder to do that and to be that level of asshole when it's like your body.

There's this cage that separates you from the other person, and you're like, I will kill you. I will destroy you and your entire family. I don't know if you've ever done this. Like you'll pull up and somebody pulls up next to you and they're ready to kill you for everything you've done to them on the freeway. They're ready to murder you and your entire lineage. And you look them in the eye and you say, Sorry, and their whole face and they're like, It doesn't matter. You see them go, I wonder if that's what stops us from having these conversations is that we're not actually having them with each other. We're having them with like a... It's like a sworn of locusts where I'm sure each individual grasshopper isn't that bad. But when it's a sworn, it's pretty difficult to get a word in. Which brings me to my first guest, The Rock. Duane, The Rock, Johnson. Here you have a human being who has across the globe been widely regarded as the friendliest, finest, most loving people. He's always trying to make fans smile. He's always trying to... You've seen those videos of him. He'll pull up to a Hollywood bus that's driving around the stars' homes, and he'll take selfies with everyone.

He's that guy. He's that guy. And yet, even he put out a video recently talking about how negative the world has become in certain spaces. And I thought, Man, if this is getting to the rocks world, if even he's experiencing this, then surely there's something we need to figure out about what we're doing or how to have these conversations. Surely there's something we need to fix in a way. And I couldn't think of a better person to have that conversation with than an all-around nice guy who has only tried to make a smile. He's walking in now, people. The man, the myth, the legend, Christiana. I will catch up with you after this, but say what's up to the rock.

Hey, guys. What's going on, sir?

How are you, my brother?

Thank you for being here. Good to see you. Thank you for.

Having me. Please take a seat. All right, welcome.

Here we are. Congratulations, man, on your first show. This is a big deal.

Thank you. No, congratulations on getting the rock. That's what you should congratulate me for.

Congratulations.

On getting The Rock. You are... Everyone says to people, Oh, you're the hardest working. You're the hard. You do so much. I will put money on it. You are the hardest working person that I know in the industry right now. You are doing everything. You are everywhere. You are... Where did you come from right now?

The gym.

You see. What time do you start? 5 AM? Are you one of those?

Am I one of those? Yeah. I like to get up early. I like to get up early, and that way, hopefully, I could get up before the babies get up, and then I could get the workout part out of the way.

I feel like I saw a video of you celebrating your mom's birthday. 75th. Congratulations to your mom. Thank you very much. I feel like your mom has always been your hero in many ways. I've read many of the things you've talked about her and many of the things you've said about her. It's so beautiful to see how you celebrate her. And watching that video, there were two things I was particularly intrigued by. Number one, was there money flying from the sky? What was.

Happening there?

We were making it rain.

Yeah, what was happening? Okay, so in our culture, I'm half black and half Samoan. And on the Samoan side, in Polynesian culture, on the Samoan side in particular, there's a dance that we do at the end of events, and it's called the tawa-lung. And a woman will dance, and during this dance, people will come up and they will throw money and they'll start to celebrate and dance around her. And the throwing of the money is a sign of reverence and respect. And that's what that was. So when I go out there to dance, I have a lot of money. I just throw it up in the air. I mean, maybe it was like 25-1s.

That is so... I always talk to my friends. I'm from South Africa, and I'll always talk to my friends about how wildly crazy cultural norms can be when you move from one space to another. When I travel the world, in some cultures, it is disrespectful to leave a plate empty after eating a meal. You leave a little bit to show that the person gave you enough. In some cultures, if you don't finish what's on the plate, you've disrespected them. I can tell you now, in many cultures, if you threw ones at your mom, right?

Well.

Contextually. No, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying it's a beautiful thing to see where you're like, Huh, wow, the world is really an interesting place. I also loved, man, I loved seeing you dancing there. Because I grew up in South Africa, I grew up watching rugby. Because I grew up watching rugby, I've always loved Samoans. I've always loved just everyone from that area. Samoans in particular were always what I consider the pinnacle of the Superman. And it was men who were wearing these... Sometimes it was like a... I don't know what it's made out of, but it looks like a redress sometimes. It's called a Lover Lover. Lover Lover. Yes. And you'd see forms of like the haka or you'd... I love seeing you doing that because I think of the history of how we have seen certain cultures and what we've defined as cool and what we've defined as acceptable. Have you always thought Samoan culture is cool? Or did you also have that period as a kid where you were like, Oh, man, I can't believe I'm part of this. And then you found it again, as most people do.

Yeah, that's a great question. And to be honest with you, brother, at a very early age from my mom and my dad, it was always, What you are is perfect. And what you are is cool. Black culture, Samoan culture. Yes, we come from a world of pro wrestling. And at that time, Trevor, if you think about it, pro wrestling was nowhere near the global juggernaut that it is today. And it was... It was a very small subculture. So be proud of everything that you are. So out of the gates, it was always be proud.

I loved it, man. I loved watching it. I loved seeing you there. I loved you celebrating it. No, because also when I travel and I'll do shows in and around the islands, all the Pacific Islands, it's so beautiful to see what you've inspired. It's so beautiful to be the pinnacle or in many ways, the the icon that people look to, they go, Where am I from? Oh, I'll tell you where I'm from. You know where the rock is from? That's exactly where I'm from. That's what you do.

That's what you do. Dude, it's a cool thing. And I got to tell you, as you go down the road of life a little bit more, you start to realize just how special culture is, how special all of our culture is. I've been lucky enough like you to go around the world and see and visit all these people from different cultures. But that moment when we're able to celebrate, say, for example, my mom on her birthday, what's really cool about that is generally every year there are a handful of people who will come and who will visit and be part of her birthday who are new to the family or new to our circle. When that moment happens, every single time you could turn around and the ones who are experiencing that for the first time, that Taualunga, where it's my mom, and she's beautiful. She's just a beautiful dancer, graceful.

You see it on.

The video, yeah. You really see it. You look at these people who are experiencing that for the first time and they're all crying because they're so moved by that. And I love that about our culture. I love that about our Polynesian culture, Hawaiian, Samo, and Tongan, Fiji, and Māori. It's a very powerful culture. I use the word mana all.

The time. Yes, you do.

And in that moment, you could feel that mana.

You really could. I feel like you carry that with you. I think one of the first times I met you in person, spoke for a little bit, was at the Time 100 event.

That was the first time?

In New York? Yeah. And there was a picture of us standing together, and people asked me, they said, What is the rock like? People always ask you when you meet someone, What is the rock like? And I said, It is the craziest thing. That human being is exactly the way he is. He doesn't surprise you in how his smile, his voice, his charm, his vibe. You are exactly the way you are. What I wanted to find out-.

Thank you for that. I appreciate that.

No, for real. Thank you, man. What I wanted to find out about you is what has made you into this human? What guides you as this human living your daily life? And the reason I think you're a particularly interesting person to speak to about this is because you have come to embody so much of the goodness that people want in their worlds. Whether it's how they work out, whether it's how they see themselves with mixed identities as an American, but proudly as a Samoan, but proudly as a black person as well, you're in this mixed world, and it's like, Hey, you can celebrate all of this. So let's talk a little bit about the formative years of The Rock, before The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. You talk about being in this world of pro wrestling. It seems like it was far from pro back then. Your dad didn't want you to get into the sport. You had this yearning to become a part of this world. What do you think that was?

The yearning part.

Of it? Yeah. Why did you want to be part of wrestling? What was it about wrestling in particular?

Well, a few things. I think because I grew up in it, and not only did I grow up in it, but man, I loved it. I loved wrestling. I love the antics of it. I love the characters of it. And especially at that time, when you grew up in the '80s, wrestling back then, late '70s, '80s was a whole different, I think, unique experience in that a lot of people bought into it, and they felt like it was real. And they'd have these local stars every week, and they'd be on their television sets, just their local TVs, and they would talk down the lens about what they're going to do to their opponent this Saturday night at whatever little arena they're wrestling in. I loved all that. I had a front row seat watching my dad and my grandfather and everybody in my family live their passions. It's what they, I believe, were all born to do. Wow. And soI think the yearning of it, it started to happen for me, to be honest, when we were evicted out of Hawaii. We were living in a little apartment. We were evicted when I was 13 or 14 years old.

I remember in that moment, I never wanted to feel that again. I was with my mom and we came home and there was a padlock or there was a notice. You have a week.

To get out. And that was it.

And that was it. I remember just her and I and she was standing there. She was crying. She didn't know what to do. My dad was wrestling in Tennessee at that time. I remember then thinking, I never want to experience this again. And what can I do to change it? What can I do? What can I do with my own two hands? Now I'm 14, so I can't.

Do shit. That's a tough place to be in as a 14-year-old.

As a 14-year-old, right. I remember at that time thinking, Well, all the heroes in my life are these guys. They're these guys who are big, they're strong, they're pro wrestlers. I bet you if I built my body and if I went to the gym, then I could change this scenario. So from that moment, I think, that defining moment. Now, years later, I fell in love with the game of football. Right. I love playing football. My goals shifted to, Well, maybe I got a shot to go to the NFL. I was at University of Miami, great school. We were national champions, played for it on two other occasions. We were balling back then. You had those hurricanes back then, dude. I think you were in Johannesburg at that time. Yeah, that's way back. Yeah. In the 90s. But we were really ballin'. So I shifted my goals. And then when that didn't happen with the NFL, I took it as a sign. And I remember thinking, I need to close this chapter in my life, really listen to my gut, and I want to turn my attention to something I think I'm going to be so passionate about and I think I was born to do.

One of the things I find fascinating about you as a person is how you engage, how you choose to engage with internal doubts and external doubts, which I think as humans, we face. I saw a video of yours on Instagram. You're in the gym, and you're answering a question, and it was a great question. Someone saying to you, How do you deal with the criticism? And how do you filter the criticism that you receive in your life? That's right. What I was intrigued by was who the criticism came to, and I'll tell you why. You are somebody who has for a very long time created content that aims to entertain, uplift in some way inspire. You've done that. We've seen you. Whether it's your music, whether it's... You know, it's like you like making people feel good. You like bringing that light into the world. I really do. Yeah. And over the past few weeks, I've been thinking to myself, Man, we're living in a world where it's become harder and harder for anyone to exist or to do anything, even with a good intention, and not find some criticism at the end of that.

And I feel like you're the paragon of that. Here you have Dwayne Johnson. And it's funny, I was chatting to Oprah about this a few days ago. The fires in Maui. Fires happen, some of the most devastating fires in American history. Immediately, Dwayne Johnson, the rock and Oprah come together and say, Hey, we're going to help. We're going to put our money into a fund, and we're asking everyone to join us. Just do what we're doing in any way you can, and let's make a change.

The greatest sense of empowerment is being able to have some control when everything seems so out of control, and we're calling it the People's Fund of Maui because every dollar that you send is going to go into an account that goes directly to.

The people. Oprah and the Rock are giving $10 million to get the fund started, and they're calling for others to make donations.

And you saw what happened overnight. I thought I'd missed something. What was it like from your perspective? Because I thought I'd missed something. I saw the initial call, and I went, Wow, okay, cool. We're all doing something. We're trying to do something. And then when you feel like you've missed a news cycle, you're like, Oh, The Rock and Oprah under fire. I was like, But for what? And people were like, Oh, you're the problem. How dare you? And why would you? And I was like, Ma'am, our whole lives, people have asked people to join into a worthy cause. When did this become a criticism or a fight? And I'd love to know how you processed that.

Sure. I woke up the next morning wondering the same thing, thinking, What happened? Did I miss something? Wait, did I… Wait, what? It took me a couple of weeks to really process that. I felt like that moment was a pivotal moment for me in my life for a few reasons. Number one, I want to go back to the brass tacks of it and the whole idea of creating this fund, the People's Fund of Maui, what's to help people and help survivors. And Trev, these are my people. These are my Polynesian people, my Hawaiian, Kanaka, Ohana, Ayinga. My grandparents, they're all buried in the islands. It meant so much to me, and I know it meant so much to our people, that we were able to come together and create this fund. Over 8,000 survivors, by the way, that we're helping right now. It's really beautiful. But what's interesting is when all that started to happen and the backlash started to happen and it started to come our way. I always feel like in moments like that, it's important not to get caught up in it. It's important just to pause. Let's be prudent. Let's pause.

Let me just wait and see. I felt like my gut said, It's going to take a couple of weeks, but let me really take a look at it. I don't want to respond to it right now. Let's stay focused on the mission, and the mission is to help the survivors right now who have nothing and they are devastated. Let's continue to stand the fund up on its feet. But at the same time, I want to pay attention to this. It really tested my ability to separate noise from criticism that was really worthy of my attention in this case, and this noise. At first, it was a wave of noise and the, How dare you ask us for money? I thought the same thing you did.

Well.

Whatever you could give, if you want to give a prayer, great. A buck, seven bucks, seven cents, or nothing. There was the noise that started to feel like it was political noise, then it just started to feel really noisy, and I wanted to make sure that we just pause. I was just waiting for, Well, where's the criticism here that is worthy of my attention that really makes sense? And then, Ah, that's it. This is what I feel I got. It took me weeks before I figured this out. I just had a moment one night, and I think I was, as I usually do, I was having a drink. I have to drink often help clear my mind and clear all this shit up in my head. Once all that left, I thought, Ah, that's it. I saw someone had posted something, and it was something to the effect of basically, Rock, don't pay attention to these guys and all this other bullshit that they're saying. However, you're one of us. And when I read, You're one of us, was the thing that made me go, Ah, got it. Went back to when I was in Hawaii, when I got evicted, we had nothing.

I was a troubled kid. I got arrested like you. I mean, we're both troubled kids, arrested multiple times. I was always pissed that we were broke. There's a difference between being poor and then being broke. And I was pissed. I was always angry, getting in fights, getting in trouble. And the last thing I realized in that moment, the last thing that I wanted to hear was somebody ask me for money, especially if the dude who I like is asking me for money and he already has money. I get it. A lot of times when you're in that situation, and I've been there, when you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're in it. Yeah. You're not necessarily vibrating at a certain level and you're in it. I came out of that and I went, That's right. I got it. Now I understand. And you know what? The last thing you wanted was to hear people ask for money regardless of the situation.

I admire how you think. I admire how you move through the world on multiple levels because you strike me as somebody who has witnessed and experienced a lot of conflict. You also strike me as somebody who doesn't wish to be a perpetrator of any conflict. I see in you something. As you say, we got into trouble when we were young, both of us raised for a large part of our lives by our moms. And you see in somebody you go like, Man, this guy is trying to move in a certain way. He's trying to do things in a different way. There was a moment when you talked about politics, and you've always stayed out of it, which I appreciate for people who do. And literally before you came on, I was talking to my team and I was saying, In South Africa, when we grew up, we had a simple rule, and that rule was your vote is your secret. And the reason we believed in that was mostly for people's safety, we said no one should know how anybody votes so that nobody gets intimidated to vote a certain way or not. And the other one was just for civil discourse.

Vote. But let's talk as humans. Don't start the conversation with, I voted like this. Now here's the conversation. Just have the conversation. You'll be shocked at how many times we're blocked because we start with the label as opposed to just the conversation. That's right. And so I look at your life, and here's a thing that always struck me was you live in a country that is so divided. You live in a country where people fight about everything. And then this poll came out and it said 43 or 46 % of the country would love the idea of Dwayne Johnson running for president. And I remember seeing that, and I was like, Damn. I mean, it either means you are the paragon of what people would hope a leader would be, or it means things have gotten so bad that they like, we need somebody who's going to come in here and lay the smackdown on everybody. Do you know what I mean? Yes, I do. So let's talk through two things. The one is your response was interesting. You said, If that was something that people wanted me to do, I would consider it or I would do it.

Tell me why you said that or what you would hope to achieve in that world, and then also tell me how you see politics because you have an interesting view, not political parties, but just the way humans interact with each other.

Sure. Well, a few things. I just want to go back for a second because you said something about, and at least this was my interpretation of what you said about, We could screw up. We fuck up at a time, and it's just life. But we learn from it. And I try not to make those mistakes again. But I also do my best these days, Trevor, and this has taken years, by the way, to not let ego, judgment, or early anticipation shape my ability to receive what is happening.

That's not easy.

No, man, it's not easy. Yeah, it's not easy. And so many times in the past, it has stifled either my growth or my ability to see something and go, You know what? I never looked at it like that. Thank you for bringing that up. It's going to help shape me as I walk forward. And I just wanted to touch on that because I think it's important. And I know the majority of people out there will want to be better.

I.

Do. Yeah, I agree. We want to be better. We want to be good. We want to be good. We want to learn from our mistakes. That was an interesting poll that happened, and I was really moved by that. I was really blown away and I was really honored. I'll share this little bit with you. At the beginning of the year, at the end of the year, rather in 2022, I got a visit from the parties asking me if I was going to run and if I could run. Wow. It was a big deal. It came out of the blue. Wow. It was one after the other. They brought up that poll. They also brought up their own deep dive research and data that would prove, should I ever decide to go down that road.

That- You would be a real contender.

Yeah. And it was all very surreal because that's never been my goal. My goal has never been to be in politics. As a matter of fact, there's a lot about politics.

That I hate. Yeah, I know this.

About you. I was moved by that. And the reason why I had given that response, if that's truly what the people want, then of course, I would consider it. And after that response, that's when the parties came. But then I really had to double down on this idea, and this is the truth, which is, Well, I got little ones. I have three daughters. I have a lot of estrogen in my house, and I love it. But I have a 22-year-old daughter, and I have a seven, and I have a five. And the 22-year-old daughter, Simone, we essentially, I like to say, Man, we grew up together. But I also know what it's like to be in an occupation that took me away. And I was, as a pro wrestler, full-time wrestling 230 dates a year for years as she came into the world. So I know what it's like to have that separation and not be there for the birthdays, not be there for the pickups, the drop-offs, and everything else. And I didn't want that. I don't want that for my little ones now. Right. That was one of my primary discussions with the parties, who ultimately were like, Yeah, but the other ones have done it like this.

With the response, I responded in that way. I thought it was important. And I do feel that way, by the way. If that's ultimately what the people would want, then of course, I would consider it.

Wow. The people's champ. I love the way your face lights up when you speak about your daughters. It happens every time you can't control it. If I was playing a game of poker with you, I'd try and put a picture of your daughters on the card because I would know which card you have when. That's right. I think what I appreciate most about it is that I think you have, in many major ways, changed the way people perceive what it means to be a dad. And I think it's beautiful. For so long, a dad was considered a strong man, didn't cry and you stiff up a lip. Come on, shut up, kids. Come on, keep moving. And then here comes what many would consider the definition of manhood. And you have your little girls painting your face, painting your nails. You're wearing tootoes, playing with them. You are fully in their world. You are a proud girl, dad, and you are raising these girls into women, and you see it in your eyes. How do you think they've shaped your perception of masculinity? How do you think they've shaped how you want to be a man?

And what are you consciously trying to think of for their perception of men as they.

Grow up? Well, you just said it. I mean, that's it. Let's start with the last thing you said because it's the anchoring thing, Trevor. It is I am their model of what a man will be. I'm their first man in their life. I take that with all the DNA that I got in my body, and I take that not only so serious, but I also I want to be that example for them. Now, let me just take you back for a second. The man who raised me, who was my dad, was my dad, Rocky Johnson. Right. His dad died when he was 13. The holidays that came up after his dad's death, a new boyfriend was in picture. Boyfriend gets drunk, pisses on the turkey. My dad's 13. He grabbed a shovel, a big shovel. My dad did, and drew a line in the and said, If you cross that line, I'm going to kill you. The drunk asshole crossed the line. He knocked him out cold as a block of ice.

Your dad knocked.

Him out? My dad knocked him out with a shovel and tried to kill him. Wow. Thirteen. They're dirt poor. They live in Amherst at Nova Scotia. The cops come and the cops say, Well, he's still unconscious, but he's not dead. When he wakes up, one of two things is going to happen. He's going to kill your son or your son is going to kill him. The cop's recommendation to my dad's mom was, One of them has to go. You know where I'm going with this now. Jeez. She looked at her son, my dad, his name was Wade, and said, You have to go. So he's 13, he's out on the streets. Now, the reason why I tell you that story is that's my dad's capacity for love. Thirteen. You're gone. So that's the man that raised me. So that's the stiff upper lip. Right. Come on, work through it. You'll be good. Get up. I'm getting up. You're getting up. We're going to the gym. I'm five. I can't go to the gym. You're going to the gym, you sit in the corner, you watch. And that was how I grew up. You're coming with me to the wrestling matches.

It was always rough. It was tough. But that's his version of love. Now, years later, when I have the blessing to become a dad and to these three beautiful daughters, Man, I learned so much from my dad on.

Work ethic.

Discipline, respect is given when it's earned. Be proud of who you are. Be proud of your skin color and what makes you up, your DNA. But at the same time, I also know what it's like not to be hugged and not to be kissed on the cheek. And so in learning of that, now I turn to my daughters and it's, Oh, you want to paint my face? Get the paint. How many colors do you want to put on? What do you want? You want to paint my nails? You want this? You want to do that? You want to hit me in the balls? Okay, great. I'm going to close my eyes. I know it's coming. It's that game. Close your eyes, Daddy. Okay, here we go. Oh, man. Yeah, man. I love and appreciate my old man. We had a complicated relationship, but my daughters helped shape me being a man. My dad helped shape me being a man, but also being a father, on what to do and the stuff that I missed and that I want to give to my little girls. I feel like.

For many young men out there, you have become a guiding light that moves them in a certain direction. There's no denying that many young men in the world right now feel lost. Personally, I think it's because a lot of young men grew up in a world where they were just told the world would give them what it's supposed to give them, and it would be the way it's supposed to be. And now that it isn't, they don't know how to exist within that. They go, Are women replacing us? Or, Are we still allowed to be men? And it can be confusing with some of the messages that people get. It's noisy. It's noisy. And I think somebody like you exists in a space where you inspire these young men in a really powerful and particular way because it's not just with your daughters. You're so open about challenges. One of those is depression. There was a time in the industry. There was a time in the world a man couldn't come out and say, man, I'm struggling with depression here, and it's a moment in my life that was tough. You couldn't be an action star and say you had anything wrong in your world and still be the top grossing action star in the world.

That, I feel like, is one.

Of-and best looking.

Too, as well. I mean, this is, of course... Forgive me, we'll edit that in. And the best looking, let's make sure we throw that in, and the best looking. But you... That's probably one of my favorite humans you fought against and beaten is the stigma against speaking about the struggle that you may have in your mind. When you spoke about that, when you revealed that, was there a part of you that was afraid of revealing this?

Didn't even think about it.

I.

Didn't even look at it that way. I didn't think, Well, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't. Maybe there's a reputation I should uphold. Big, strong men. It's that culture. How is it going to be received? I didn't really think about it. I don't remember exactly when, but I remember being in an interview or something and then I started talking about it. I realized as I was saying it, and I certainly realized it after the feedback I got, and this was probably years ago, of how much it helped. How much it helped guys, how much it helped men, how much it helped people. But also, Trevor, I went through bouts of depression not knowing what I was going through. I didn't know what depression was. Twenty years ago there wasn't, Oh, this is depression. It's mental health.

People back then just thought you were perpetually sad.

They thought you were sad. They thought maybe you were hungover. They thought a lot of things. They thought maybe you need to get on medication or not. But you know what they also, a lot of people thought, and people still think this today is, Yeah, but it's a choice. You'll get through it. Wake up. It's a choice to be happy. It's a choice to be sad. So come on, buck up.

Right.

You got this. Move on. When a lot of times you just wake up blue and you don't have that choice and it's not that easy. You just don't turn it on or turn it off. I also realized as I went down the road, once I started to realize what it was, why I felt I didn't want to do anything, why I was emotional about things. At first, it happened at University of Miami when I was 18 years old. I came in, everything was great. I was on top. I get injured, complete reconstruction with my shoulder. I was done. I wasn't participating in team meetings, practice. I wasn't going to class. The first time away from home. You're isolated. All of that isolated, brother, and it all converged. I went through my first battle of depression back then. Also back when I had seven bucks in my pocket, and then when I got a divorce and so on and so on and so on. Then once I started to realize what it was, I started to not only did it help me realize what it was, but then realize the power of talking about it and how important that is.

Now I can tell young men, young women, kids, students, older people, it doesn't matter. Hey, it's your superpower. It's okay.

Talk about it. Right.

Be open. If you're feeling blue, if you're feeling fucked up, if you don't have the answers, even if you don't know why. Because a lot of times, sure, there's a thing that this thing happened, therefore I'm depressed. But a lot of times people just wake up and the skies are gray and you don't know what to do. And one of the most powerful things you can do is, number one, know you're not alone. Know that if you're experiencing it, there's a lot of other people out there experiencing it, too, and talk about it.

I appreciate that. I really do.

What do you do when that happens? I'm curious.

So what I try and do is I track the when and the why.

Are you open about talking.

About it? Oh, yeah. So, for.

Instance- Were you always that way, though.

Or did it-No, because I didn't understand. So before I was diagnosed with ADHD, I didn't even know what was happening. I thought I struggled with depression. I didn't know until I read about it and really spend some time with some great people, therapists and just experts in the field. I didn't even know that depression was just a symptom. It was a byproduct of ADHD. I actually don't suffer from depression. I thought I did. So I speak about it all the time because one, you get rid of the stigma, but two, you start to understand. I think there's something cool about understanding things. There's something really nice in knowing how it works. And so for myself, what I do now is I will just do a check-in of what's happening behind everything. If I wake up feeling blue, I just ask myself simple questions. How long did I sleep for? What did I eat last night? Do I have something big coming up? Did I not finish a conversation yesterday? I don't get the answer. I just ask questions, and then I'll do it again. I'll be like, Man, I don't feel like doing anything today.

I'll be like, Okay, well, what are you doing? Are there days when you want to do it? And if it's yes, what's different today? And I find if you just check in with yourself, and almost you... I know now, as Trevor, if I haven't slept, then my motivation isn't where it needs to be. If I eat late, my sleep isn't good, and that affects me as well. If I'm not around my people, my community, if I don't recharge, that's something that's always going to affect me. And so I try and check in. I want to go back to what you said, though, about divorce. Again, I would love to understand how you did this and what you can teach us about your experience. Many people will experience divorce. Again, it's something that's shrouded in shame. Nobody wants to happen. They stay in marriages forever, but even when they can't or shouldn't, you got divorced. But your divorce is really unique in that your ex-wife is- My business partner. -your business partner. Yes. Your ex-wife is the person who's helped you turn the rock from an individual into an idea that spans the globe. Dwayne Johnson is everything from tequila to work out apparel with Under Armour to wrestling and movies and music and-.

Sexiest man alive.

Sexiest man alive, of course. We'll throw more of these in, I apologize. Sexiest man alive. But I'd love to know, on a relationship level, how are you able to be in a divorce with somebody? And I ask this for everyone who's in any relationship, and then still find a way to love and respect them enough to move forward. Because I'm sure the divorce was hard. What did you learn that enabled you to work with your ex-wife to achieve everything that you've done? What can we still do today?

I learned exactly that what you just said, that we can still make it all happen. We just have to be unattached to how we get there. Let's also be unattached to what the original goal was. Now, the original goal wasn't divorce, and divorce was fucking hard, man. Especially at that age for me, I was getting a divorce. I transitioned out of wrestling. When I left wrestling, I was on top. I was very lucky and fortunate. I was on top main event, and I thought, But I want to expand. I want to grow, and I want to bring wrestling with me. Then I thought, God, is this the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life? There was that and going through a divorce at the same time. Our daughter at that time maybe was three, four years old. Who's going to be raising her along with me? There's another man. Eventually, I'm sure she will meet another man. There was all that shit that was going on in my head. What I realized was with Danny, my ex-wife, who is now my business partner, we're great friends and is a force onto herself. She really is.

She really is extremely proud of everything that she's accomplished. We realized early, once we got through the, Okay, we're going to get a divorce. This is real. This is happening. It's not what we signed up for. Is there a version of this as we move forward where we started to build this business together. Can we continue to build this business together? Is that possible? Are we fucking crazy? The thought was, Well, let's look at the dynamic here. We have a beautiful daughter. We have an opportunity now to show her a way, post something not working out, post a relationship and marriage not working out, but being an example for her of how you can work through something and resolve something. On the other side of it, it may not be originally what you signed up for, but who knows? It could be better. We realized that, and then we went to work. When I say we went to work, it is bringing in the experts who can help us. I'm not talking about lawyers. We kept them off to the side, and we figured all that on our own. That's beautiful, man. We figured all that on our own, and then we went to them.

But we brought in the experts, the relationship experts, who are going to help us through this thing. We wound up doing it. It took a lot of work and a lot of grinding because you start to unpack a lot of stuff, and you start to realize a lot of stuff about yourself, about your partner, about the relationship, about how you see the world, how you see everything, how you see love, how you think you're pretty good at relationships. But actually, you're not. You got a lot to learn. So that's what we did. And it wound up being a great decision.

I'm so happy for you. I've got a.

Question for you, though. Yeah. Yeah. There's a moment I feel like it happens in all of our lives where it's that seminal defining moment where you go, This is why I was born.

This.

Thing right now. Now I'm talking specifically about a passion and a thing. So tell me a little bit about it. I heard this story, but I want to confirm it with you because I think it's phenomenal and I have something very similar which bonds us here is, so you went to a show, and I'm assuming you were in Joburg. Yeah. And you were there, one of your buddies got up and he started performing, and it might have been open mic or something like that. I don't know. And he didn't do that well. He might still be your buddy, so I don't want to say he sucks because he might be listening right now. But he didn't do that well. And another one of your buddies looked at you and was like, Hey, man, you're funny. Why don't you get up there? And you got up there.

So it was actually messier than that. But yeah, carry on.

Okay. And you got up there. I can't wait to hear the messy version then. But you got up there and you moved the crowd. Yeah. And there was something about that moment that made you go, There could be something here. Tapped into a light and a voice behind your rib cage. Right. Tell me about that.

So what actually happened was stand-up comedy wasn't a thing in South Africa before democracy because free speech was illegal. So you start with that. So the only people who could do stand-up comedy were people who didn't say anything about the government and they were white. Anyone of any color couldn't do stand-up. So you have this burgeoning industry that pops off, this world that's never existed. In many ways, it was like the wrestling that your dad was a part of and what you started in. It's this rtag-tag affair of, you know what? Everyone knew everyone. You just find a space, you make it happen. You try to get the locals to pop in, and this is it. You don't know how it's going to go. You don't know what it's going to be. You're just begging anyone with a venue to allow you to put on this motly crew of ideas. Yes, but.

It's going to be real.

Yeah, but I didn't know about stand-up comedy as a concept. That's how new it was in South Africa. I was living with my cousin and best friend at the time, and they said to me one day, Hey, we're going to go to a stand-up comedy show. I was like, What is that even? They were like, Oh, we're going to go to the show. Come join us. I was like, All right, we roll. We go everywhere together. I get to this place. It's actually a bar, little corner spot in the middle of downtown Johannesburg, a place called New Town. And we're sitting there and some guy climbs onto stage and it was so rtag tag they had to climb through a window to get onto the stage. It's like a little window on the side. It's not a real stage. Clims onto this little platform, holds the mic, starts speaking. People start laughing. He does this thing. A comedian named Gideon Bonny Mulawudzy, great guy, and then he's on stage. But the night was bad. Comedians have bad nights. You know what it's like as a performer. You know what it's like when there are people there.

I mean, you were doing it to hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of people. You know what it's like when a line doesn't land. You know what it's like when a moment doesn't connect.

It wasn't-But you also know the high, the moment that first line hits, then.

You're off to the rest. So it wasn't working well for the comedians. My cousin gets drunk. From this, he starts heckling, and he goes, he's like, boo, this is terrible. Because it's so small, everybody knows each other. The guy from stage goes, he's like, Lou, shut up, man. You know how hard we're working? He's like, You guys suck. So hes like, Why don't you come on stage and try it? And my cousin goes, Well, I don't know if I could do that, but Trevor can. I'm sober. Now I've just been thrust into this mix. I go, Hey, I know nothing about this. I have no beef with anybody. The comedian turns to me and he goes, Oh, you think you're so big? Why don't you come on stage? I said, I've said nothing. I've said nothing. And then he coaxed me. Now it's Pride. Now I'm like, All right, let's do it because of the friends. I go, I get on stage. And I remember I literally didn't know what to do. And I turned to my friends. I was like, What am I going to say? And he said, Just tell them that story about the Nigerian guy fixing your VCR machine.

Just tell them that story. I was like, Okay. And I got on stage and I told that story, and people were howling and people were crying, laughing. And it connected me to something that has taken me more than a decade to understand. And it's that I grew up in a household and in a country and in a society with so much violence and so much pain that I have loved and yearned and enjoyed for nothing more than to make people feel good. Do you know what I'm saying? Amen. People come to a show and you've seen what it's like. Man, people will tell you stories. My dad had cancer, and the only thing we connected around was this show. My family was going through this tough time, and we love this show. There's a powerful thing that you can do in giving to another the joy that you may not even have in that moment. And so that's something that I've always found for myself. We were doing your moves in the gym at school. We had detention. We had detention, and we had this giant room where you would just get locked in and it was like, That's your detention.

It was like a gym, really, but it was a massive gym. And we would put out all these mats and we would be like, All right, we're practicing the rocks moves. Let's go. And everyone would get in there. I'm talking almost two stories high. Oh, yeah. And we'd climb up on the railing. This is our cage match. And you'd grab someone, you get.

Underneath them. Oh, here comes.

Rock bottom. You're right there, the rock bottom, baby. And you'd get in right underneath and then you'd jump down and we'd slam each other. But that's what I mean. Think about that connection. Think about how far that was. Think about how far you were from me in South Africa. Think about how far I was from you in the United States. And yet in that moment, we were connected. And so I think that's what I love. That's why I'm having this conversation with you. That's why I want to talk about things in the world, is because we've forgotten that the same thing that connects us into the worst of each other can be used to connect us into the best of each other. That's right. We can reach consensus. We can discover new ideas. We can learn. You don't agree with your friends on everything, but they're still your friends, your family. You fight with them, but you still love them. Yes, man. And so that's literally like-.

We can learn. We could find resolve.

And I don't know anybody who does it better than you, genuinely. You have a way of stringing it all together. You never left the wrestling fans behind. They still love you. They still respect you. You've never turned your back on it. You've always loved the fans of your movies and the things that you do. You sport the same thing, the love that you show. Whether it's XFL, whether it's NFL, you show that love and that passion. You have that. Yeah. And you know?

Trevor, I appreciate that. Look, I got to thank you for telling me that story.

By the way. I love that story. And you're the best looking man on the planet.

The sexiest man alive. I'm just telling them- I mean, this is.

Something we have to acknowledge.

We always have to acknowledge. I make my family acknowledge it. Every time they're out, everybody line up and tell me right now. But I got to say that thank you for telling me that story. I heard a version of that story. This version is even better. But it actually goes deeper than what I expected to hear because this idea that we have this passion, and I always like to say one of our anchoring tenants in just any business that I do or anything that I do, I want to send people home happy. I don't want to make them happy. And it's just that simple. I feel like if we're lucky enough to be in this position where we can influence a person or two like me and like you, but this idea that, Hey, come to us and I'm going to do all I can to make you feel good and send you happy. What a blessing that is.

It truly is. So before I let you go, I have one question that I'm going to ask all my guests. Because you meet people at a moment in time. Had I met you a few decades ago, you would be stepping into wrestling. Had I met you at another time, you'd be stepping into the world of Hollywood. A world people said you would never break into because they're like, Who would watch a guy named Duane? And yet here you are, the most popular and sexiest Duane on the planet. You didn't.

Have to put mustard on that. The way.

You said, But it's true. Just Dwayne. No, no, no, but I'm saying I love it because it's part of your success. It's the hero's journey. It is the hero's journey. Yes. So what now? You are now in a place in your life where you are still able to be an athlete in wrestling. And you went back now with The Strike. You also are somebody who is powerful in Hollywood and in the industry. You show that with your donations to the writers. I mean, to the Screen Actors Guild, you see your efforts in philanthropy. You're a powerhouse in making drinks. It's like, here you are. But what now? What is the thing that you are looking for, not just on a professional level, but in your life. Where does Dwayne Johnson go? All right, this is the next step that I'm trying to get to, or this is the next thing that I'm trying to achieve in myself as a human being.

Yes. The next thing is this. Let me preface with, Man, I'm lucky. I feel like along the way, I got lucky. And you hear, Well, the harder you work, the luckier you get. And that could be true. But I do feel that by the grace of God, man, I had just these angels. I feel like along the way, who just helped guide and shape and shift me and take care of me at the darkest and lowest. And those angels, by the way, are still in my life. I could count them on one hand. Have fingers left over, I like to say. I want to preface it with how grateful I am. I'm a lucky guy to be in this position. I'm lucky to have climbed a mountain and breathing a certain air that I'm well aware that at times it's a rare air too, as well. And the thing I want to do now is not stay here. In this place on this mountain, but I want to build more mountain. I want to build more mountain professionally, but more importantly than professionally, I want to build more mountain spiritually, emotionally. Humanity is so important to me.

And not only build more mountain, but then bring everyone with me so we can all build new mountain. Right. So it's all about building new mountain for me. And in that, that is the... And again, we could distill this down into a lot.

Of different places, but it is- Yeah, no, no, no. But I.

Know what you mean. You know what I'm saying? It's build new mountain. It's growing. It's being open. And especially now when there is so much noise, there's so much toxicity, there's so much bullshit that everybody is dealing with. From the moment you wake up, the moment you go to bed, you open your phone, turn the TV on, listen to the radio, there's so much toxicity and noise. But, man, there's also so much good stuff out there, too, as well. So build New Mountain.

I love that. Build New Mountain.

And bring everyone with you. So we're all building New Mountain together.

I love it. Well, Dwayne, the rock Johnson, sexiest man alive. I thank you for your time. Thank you. You know what's great? You will always have been my first guest. You know what I love about the full circle of things? I'll leave you with this. Tell me. The first guest I had on The Daily Show was Kevin Hart.

Wow.

And the reason I always appreciate the first is because the firsts have to do something that most people are afraid to do, and that is trust in what they don't know. You come here, you don't know how this could go. You don't know how this would... And honestly, I appreciate that from you as a human being. I remember what happened with Kevin on The Daily Show. No one would be my first guest. People were terrified. They're like, Who is this guy? We don't know what he is. We don't know what he stands for. South Africa? What is that? Even where is that? What part of Africa? The South? We put in the name for a reason, but people did not care. They were like, We can't come. And I said, Let's ask Kevin Hart. And they're like, Oh, Kevin Hart is a superstar. Let's just ask him.

Yeah.

Kevin responded instantly. He said, I'm in. He said, I'm in. And I remember asking him. I said, Why? And Kevin said, Because I remember what it was like to be the person that nobody wanted to give a shot. I remember what it was like to be at the bottom of this ladder. And he said, It's funny you say then I see why you guys get along so much. He said, If I can be a part of building your ladder, sign me up. And so I'm glad that I now have what I consider one of the best pairings as both of my firsts. Thank you so much, brother.

Well, thank you, brother, for having me on. And congratulations on not only an incredible career, but also a groundbreaking one, too.

I appreciate that, man. Thank you so much. Thank you, brother. All right, let's get you to the next billion dollars. I cost you some.

Money here. Oh, you're seven.

What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with DayZero Productions, Foolwell 73, and Odycee's Pineapple Street Studios. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Ben Winston, Jenna Weiss, Sperman, and Barry Finkl. Produced by Emmanuel Hapsis, Janel Anderson, and Marina Hanky. Music, mixing, and mastering by Hans Brown. Thank you so much for taking the time and tuning in. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. I hope we left you with something. Hopefully, we'll see you again next week. Same time, which is whenever you listen. Same place, which is wherever you listened. Next Thursday, all new episode. What now?