InstagramIs Dwayne Johnson the new Oprah Winfrey?
The 44-year-old actor, who voices the demigod Maui in Disney's Moana, had fans recalling Oprah's famous "You get a car! You get a car!" episode when he revealed via Instagram Friday that he surprised his father by buying him a new set of wheels for Christmas.
"He's had a hard life," Dwayne explained. "This one felt good."
"My dad, Rocky Johnson is a minimalist. Always has been. Never asks me for much and over the years his needs are always the barest," the former wrestler continued, adding that his paternal grandfather died when Rocky was 13 years old. "That Christmas, my dad's mom had her new boyfriend over for Christmas dinner. Her boyfriend got drunk and pissed on the turkey. My dad went outside, got a shovel, drew a line in the snow and said if you cross that line I'll kill you."
"The drunk crossed it and my dad laid him out cold as a block of ice," Dwayne wrote. Soon, the cops were called. "They told my dad's mom that when her boyfriend regains consciousness, he's gonna kill your son, so one of them has got to go," Dwayne said. "In front of the entire family, my dad's mom looked at him and said get out. He was 13 yrs old and now homeless."
By Dwayne's own admission, it's a "f--ked up true story" from Rocky's childhood in Nova Scotia.
"He needed the bare minimum then," People's Sexiest Man Alive said, "just like does now."
"Over the years, I've moved him into a big home, got him trucks to drive—which he'll literally drive into the ground until I get him something else. Hell, I'll get him anything he wants, but the SOB just won't ask," he wrote, adding a winking emoji. "Every Christmas, I always think about that story and my dad having every odd stacked against him at 13, but he fought thru it and still made something of himself. Makes me appreciate his struggle and hard work. Also, makes me appreciate the fun times he would beat my ass in the gym so bad when I was 13 and say 'If you're gonna throw up, go outside…and if you're gonna cry, then go home to your mother.'"
"I hated it then, but I embrace it now. Made a man outta me. Without pissing on my turkey," the Baywatch actor recalled. "Just a small way of saying thank you dad and Merry Christmas!"
The Rock signed his caption, "#DwantaClaus."
This isn't the first time Dwayne has rewarded his parents for supporting him over the years. In 2012, the movie star bought his mom a car for Christmas. "At 14 I saw my mom crying about our only car being repossessed," he said on Facebook. "This felt good. Merry Christmas mom."