Dwayne Johnson Supports His Daughter’s ‘Passion’ For ‘Proudly’ Carrying On Family’s Wrestling Legacy
Dwayne Johnson Supports His Daughter’s ‘Passion’ For ‘Proudly’ Carrying On Family’s Wrestling Legacy
Dwayne Johnson is best known to the world by his ring name “The Rock” from his day as a professional wrestler. Nowadays, Johnson is best known for being an actor as well as a businessman. However, during his former career, Johnson was seen as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time, as he wrestled for WWE for eight years.
Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California. He played football while in college at the University of Miami and even won a national championship in 1991. While he once had dreams of becoming a professional football player, Johnson failed to be drafted, and instead signed with a Canadian football team. However, he was later cut from the team.
Fortunately, Johnson had other skills, and as part of the Anoa’i family, his father Rocky and grandfather Peter Maivia were professional wrestlers, helping Johnson secure a contract with WWE in 1996. The rest is history.
Since then, Johnson has been a household name for a litany of reasons, as he has starred in plenty of films over the course of his career, including “Hercules,” “Moana,” “Jungle Cruise” and several of the “Fast and Furious” films.
While the star is now known for his highly successful films, he is still very relevant in the wrestling scene, and so is his beautiful daughter, Simone. Simone is now 20 years old and is proving that she is just as talented as her famous father, especially when it comes to being strong and athletic in the wrestling department.
Simone is the daughter of Johnson and his ex, Dany Garcia. Garcia is also pretty famous in the athletic world as she is an IFBB professional bodybuilder. She also has plenty of other skills as she is a businesswoman and producer. She and Jonhson had previously married on May 3, 1997, and welcomed Simon on Aug. 14, 2001. However, Johnson and Garcia announced that they were amicably separating in June 2007, and the divorce was finalized 11 months later.
Johnson’s 20-year-old daughter, Simone, has since decided to become a part of the family's WWE legacy. As of February 2020, she had officially signed and started training shortly afterward, making her the fourth generation in her family to do so. WWE announced that Simone Johnson had kicked-off her training at their Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and officially signed as a part of the team.
The announcement of Simone following in the family footsteps came only just weeks after her grandfather, Rocky, died from a heart attack in January 2020. Her father gave an emotional eulogy at Rocky's funeral service. Johnson was also sure to thank his fans for their endless stream of love and support during the family’s hard time. He said:
“Thank you so much. Thank you. My heart is so full of gratitude, deep in my bones, in my constitution, in my writing, in my heart and in my manna, for the outpouring of love and the support and well wishes and condolences you have sent me and my family during this time.”
The family stayed strong through their heartbreak and loss, and showed just how tight of a unit they are when it was time to celebrate Simone’s latest career endeavor as a wrestler for WWE. It was a huge milestone for the 20-year-old, as well as a great way for the family to come together.
According to a statement by WWE, Simone said that the promotion "means the world to me." She continued to add, "To know that my family has such a personal connection to wrestling is really special to me and I feel grateful to have the opportunity, not only to wrestle but to carry on that legacy."
The family legacy to which Simone refers includes her 10-time world champion father "The Rock," as well as her pioneering grandfather "Rocky Johnson" and great-grandfather "High Chief" Peter Maivia. The latter two are both already inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
WWE executive vice president Paul "Triple H" Levesque said that "Simone Johnson's unbridled passion and incredible drive has earned her a coveted spot training with the elite athletes from around the world at the WWE Performance Center." He went on to add, "Not only does Simone now have an opportunity to cultivate and display her passion for WWE within the Performance Center, but she'll carry on the tradition of her incredible family lineage while creating her own impact as WWE's first fourth-generation Superstar."
Simone's father Johnson told Good Morning America in 2018 that Simone's dream was to be a WWE wrestler. In February 2020, Johnson took to Instagram to show support for his daughter's actualization of her dream.
In his Instagram post, Johnson said:
“Dreams ain’t just for dreamers. Congrats to my #1 born, Simon Johnson on officially signing her wrestling contract… Carry our family name proudly, but your road will always be yours to create, earn & own. So proud. Live your dream. Let’s work.”
During his past GMA appearance, "The Rock" said about the eldest of his three daughters, "Simone is working so hard – and her hard work has already started – she wants to be a WWE Wrestler." He went on to also add, "I love the idea. We had this big conversation, she came with me to Hong Kong (and) Beijing. I said, 'Honey, whatever your passion is, I support that.'" Dwayne added in his own personal experience with WWE by noting, "and wrestling was good to me, I started my career in Madison Square Garden. So yeah, bring it on, she's going to be a champ."
This wasn’t the only time Simone made her mark on the world. When she was just 16 years old, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association selected her as the Golden Globe Ambassador for the 75th anniversary of the Golden Globe Awards, the first of its kind in 2017.
“I’ve been lucky enough to grow up in a household with strong role models and feel so honored to represent the HFPA for its 75th Anniversary,” Johnson said. She also told The Hollywood Reporter that the platform allows her to be more than just her "parents' daughter and be [her] own person." She also added: "I feel especially blessed and honored that I get to be the first Golden Globes Ambassador and represent this brand-new progressive and special title."
