Lauren Hashian, wife of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, posted a touching tribute to her father-in-law Rocky Johnson on Monday. Hashian re-posted the same message Johnson published on Jan. 17, while adding a few words of her own. Rocky died on Jan. 15 in Lutz, Florida at age 75.
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“Rest In Peace Rocky,” Hashian began. “Thank you for always being so warm and kind to me [and] my family. Your son has one heck of an angel now watching over him. And without you his path would’ve been a very different one.”
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“How lucky to have a father and grandfather to pass on their family business and the culture and the work ethic, and carry that torch with the greatest respect and honor for what you did before him,” Hashian continued. “Rest in Love.”
Johnson’s own tribute to his father included a video of Rocky being introduced during a WWE broadcast.
“Dad, I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you, before you crossed over to the other side,” Johnson wrote in part. “But you were ripped away from me so fast without warning. Gone in an instant and no coming back. I’m in pain. But we both know it’s just pain and it’ll pass.”
“Now I’ll carry your mana and work ethic with me, as it’s time to move on because I have my family to feed and work to accomplish,” Johnson continued. “Finally, I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman. Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease. You lived a very full, very hard, barrier breaking life and left it all in the ring. I love you dad and I’ll always be your proud and grateful son. Go rest high.”
On Sunday, Johnson shared another video on Instagram, in which he gave more details of his father’s death. Rocky recently came down with a cold and an infection and was then diagnosed with a blood clot in the leg.
“It was a big ol’ blood clot that broke free, traveled up his body, and went right to his lung, clotted his lung and he died very quickly from a massive heart attack, just like that,” Johnson explained, adding that his father “went quick.”
Johnson added that he is writing his father’s eulogy for the funeral on Tuesday.
“I’ve written a lot of speeches for myself over the years but I have no idea where to start with this one,” the Jumanji: The Next Level star explained. “But I do have my tequila and I can hear him now, ‘Good that’s the way you gotta do it,’ and I can also hear him now ‘Make sure you put me over in the speech – say good stuff about me.’ For those of you who knows my dad you know that he would say, ‘You tell them I taught you everything you know, but I didn’t teach you everything I know.’”
Rocky was a pro wrestler from 1964 until his retirement in 1991. He was among the first black wrestlers to win a WWE title and was also the first black Georgia Heavyweight Champion. In 2008, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with a speech by his son.
Hashian and Johnson married in 2019 and have two daughters, Jasmine, 4, and Tania, 1.
Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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