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Greg Oliver of Slam Wrestling in Canada authored an expose that ran on Sports Illustrated's website today, revealing the story of the five unknown children that late WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson fathered while touring the United States and Canada as a professional wrestler. None were never publicly acknowledged by Johnson. The complete piece, which is an excellent read, can be found at this link.
According to the article, in some cases, Johnson would not speak to his children, hanging up on one daughter every time she called him attempting to connect over the years. With others, he would speak on the telephone and promise to visit, but never actually did. None of them were mentioned his memoir Soulman (which was pulled from the market after he refused to pay his co-author Scott Teal) and following Johnson's passing, the children, now adults, began connecting.
All of the children, now adults, have confirmed their parentage via DNA ancestry websites. One of Johnson's daughters, Lisa Purves, is now working on a documentary about her and half-siblings' stories, a documentary that started from her initial plans of working on a documentary about the effect parents knowingly cutting themselves off from their children has on them as they grow older.
As of this writing, The Rock has not publicly commented on the story and as of its publication, the story also noted that he has not (yet) privately responded to his half-siblings, either. In the piece, they all make it clear that he is not to smeared for Rocky Johnson's decisions, especially given The Rock likely never know they existed as he grew up.
Adrian, one of Rocky Johnson's unacknowledged sons, commented, “Dwayne has nothing to do with the decisions that his dad made; he doesn't even know who we are.”
Lisa, one of Rocky Johnson's daughters, backed that sentinment, noting, “Dwayne doesn’t owe us anything.”
“We just want to be recognized,” says Paula, another daughter. “We sat on the back burner forever. [Rocky] was our dad just as well as Dwayne’s.”
Rocky Johnson's brother Ricky (who teamed with Rocky in Hawaii as part of his own wrestling career) has welcomed all of them as his nieces and nephews and in the piece, very much comes across as an important part of the healing process for all five of Johnson's unacknowledged children, who have all connected with him and each other.
Oliver also provided additional background to the situation, including his own dealings with Johnson and the Johnson family over the years at this link. Both articles are absolutely fascinating reads.
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