Sports Illustrated published a wild story this week about Rocky Johnson, the WWE father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who fathered at least five secret children during his time on the professional wrestling circuit in addition to the Hobbs & Shaw star and his two half-siblings from Johnson’s first marriage. Now, one of the siblings, Lisa Purves, 53, is working on a documentary about her experience, tentatively titled Just Call Me Lisa, so it seems like their story is only going to continue to gain traction.
Unfortunately, Johnson never had a meaningful role in the lives of any of the children he fathered out of wedlock before he passed away in 2020. However, his younger brother Ricky Johnson, also a former professional wrestler eight years Rocky’s junior, has stepped into the paternal role and has since reunited with all of his nieces and nephews.
The story of the siblings is bittersweet in that, for the most part, they all grew up with single mothers living in or near poverty. (The Rock and his older half-siblings likewise have never come around to their other siblings, nor did they agree to participate in Purve’s documentary.)
Yet, they’ve managed to find solace and peace in finally connecting with long-lost family, as four out of the five (before they discovered the youngest, Aaron Fowler, born in 1970) and Ricky finally met up in 2018. And by all accounts, it sounds like it was a happy reunion.
The entire thing is worth a read, but the following excerpt details the siblings meeting with each other and their somewhat less famous uncle for the first time.
A month later, Lisa arranged for her newly discovered family to share a six-bedroom Airbnb over a weekend in Toronto, and she brought a camera crew along to document the moment. Trevor lived nearby; Adrian came down from North Bay; Paula flew in from Halifax and Lisa from Vancouver. (Aaron was not yet in the picture.) They each brought their spouses and kids along, 17 people in total, plus one big dog. Trevor barbecued one night, and Paula cooked a huge family breakfast. They drank and shared stories and built a bonfire. The kids kicked around a soccer ball and they all went to a football game—one of Adrian’s sons happened to be playing in Toronto that weekend. And when the siblings struggled to express themselves, their kids stepped in, sharing their own feelings of emptiness, having never known their grandfather.
Ricky was there, too, with his wife, Jeanie, and they all grilled him about his brother. “They deserve to be loved, like any other child does,” says Ricky, who’s now 68. “Whether they’re rich and famous or not.”
Ricky took the other path. “I keep reinforcing that I love them,” he says. “I tell them that all the time, all the kids.” Now Uncle Ricky and Aunt Jeanie talk, text and hold regular Zoom meetings with their nieces and nephews. There was a mini reunion for Ricky’s 65th birthday. Lisa has flown out to stay with Paula. Adrian crashed on Lisa’s couch for a bit. And they all mourned with Lisa when her 33-year-old daughter, Natasha, died unexpectedly last November. “We’re all close because of [Ricky],” says Adrian.
Though the siblings interviewed for the story admit that they dealt with self-esteem growing up feeling unwanted by their father, none of them blame their famous brother.
“Dwayne has nothing to do with the decisions that his dad made; he doesn’t even know who we are,” said Adrian, now also in his 50s. “Dwayne doesn’t owe us anything,” added Lisa.