It’s always an honor for anyone to be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, but for Dwayne Johnson, it means a little more…
The half-Samoan, half-black actor is the first non-white male to receive the title since Denzel Washington in 1996—20 years ago!
Needless to say, Johnson is stoked about the opportunity and admitted he feels like he’s reached a “pinnacle” point in his career. However, that’s not to say he didn’t struggle for many years in order to get here.
“When I was growing up here in Hawaii, I was like 13, 14 years old, I was doing a lot of things that I shouldn’t have,” he revealed to the publication. “I was getting arrested multiple times but at the same time, always very respectful to my teachers and elders. I was unsure of who I was and who I wanted to be.”
Johnson’s family struggled financially when he was growing up, so he was determined to play football and help them afford a better life.
“I played football for 10 years with one goal, which was to play in the NFL, which meant we’d never be evicted again. It meant that I could buy my parents their first home, their cars, whatever they wanted.”
However, he never ended up making it. “That failure was tough; that was a tough pill,” he admitted.
After that, the actor reevaluated his life with just a few dollars and some dreams.
“I literally looked in my wallet and I had a five, a one and change. So I rounded it up to seven. It was a real rock bottom for me and I didn’t know how defining or how meaningful seven bucks would be only until years later in my life,” he explained.
Shortly thereafter, he found himself transitioning into Hollywood and trying to make it in the WWE. “I was met with skepticism and some cynicism of where I came from and the world of wrestling. Because you’ve got to prove yourself,” he said. “But there wasn’t a blueprint for me to follow. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, there’s this half-Samoan, half-black wrestler and you just do it like him.'”
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