[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Hulk Hogan is speaking out in one last posthumous interview.
Before his death in July 2025, the 71-year-old had been filming a docuseries, Hulk Hogan: Real American, which aired on Netflix on Wednesday. It’s full of very vulnerable and candid conversations about his life, career, and controversies! Let’s break down the biggest bombshells…
His Final Days
Despite his career as a macho man, the WWE star let fans into the harsh realities of his declining health in his final days of life. In the doc, he’s seen working out in his home gym months before his death while using a cane. We now know he’d been battling a secret cancer battle when he died of a heart attack and he also underwent many surgeries throughout his life. Addressing the toll it’d taken on his body, he shared:
“I feel okay but it’s a pain. I have my son [Nick Hogan] take the tops off water bottles for me, because I can’t turn them.”
While he found it “kind of embarrassing” needing to rely on his son, he believed it also “keeps me humble.”
His Romance With Linda
Hulk and his first wife Linda also broke down their rocky romance. As you’ll recall, they were married from 1983 until 2009 and shared kids Nick and Brooke. While Hulk didn’t have much to say on how they met, simply claiming they met at a bar and went back to his apartment and “hit it off,” Linda revealed he was in the bathroom for “the longest time” — and then came out “completely naked.”
“It was like when you go to the zoo and see a… wooly mammoth. He was huge. How many people can say they got f**ked by a giant?”
LMFAO!
The peak of his career ultimately affected their marriage as Linda found herself “lonely” and “unhappy” as he was so busy traveling. Even when he was home, it wasn’t the same:
“He didn’t like to make a lot of conversation at dinner…he wasn’t Mr. Personality at home, anymore.”
In 2005 to 2007, they opened their lives up to the world in Hogan Knows Best, a show they were all excited about since they’d thought it’d be like The Osbournes or Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. The relationship was already “in shambles” at that point, and Hulk hoped it would “bring Linda and I together…we could be excited about something, and move forward.”
The Affair
Unfortunately, the show couldn’t fix the marriage — certainly not after Hulk’s cheating scandal! As you’ll recall, the couple broke up after Hulk allegedly cheated on Linda with their daughter’s friend, Christiane Plante.
The athlete actually opens up about the scandal in the series, though he doesn’t use any names or call it an affair. He described the other woman as “a person I was dating who was part of the record company — almost like a chaperone for Brooke.” He pointed out:
“Having your personal problems with your family being aired for public consumption caused all kinds of turmoil.”
Linda explained that when she found out about Hulk’s infidelity after a housekeeper found a hoop earring in their bed — and it wasn’t hers! Ouch.
It blew up the marriage, and when he returned home from a wrestling event in Germany, he found his house “cleaned out.”
“Safes were ripped out of the wall. Everything was gone, except for my clothes.”
What followed was a very contentious divorce and a “very, very tough time” for him. His kids distanced themselves, refusing to answer his phone. Linda recalled:
“It was to the point where we literally didn’t speak to each other anymore, at all. So everything had to go through lawyers. It made it incredibly difficult for the kids.”
To make matters worse? Hulk said Linda started dating an 18-year-old who “actually went to school with Nick and Brooke.” Messy AF!!
Mental Health
During the split, Hulk was widely criticized after he said he understood O.J. Simpson‘s motives for allegedly killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson in a Rolling Stone interview. He explained how that happened:
“I spent 3 days with Rolling Stone, I thought the guy was my friend, we became buddies. All of a sudden, we were sitting on my back porch…. and he asked me about O.J. Simpson.”
He wished he had “never done” the interview, sharing how this time in his life put him in a dark place:
“I started drinking and started eating pills, and I just went down this rabbit hole for a couple days. Next thing I know, I’m sitting in front of my bathroom with a gun in my mouth not knowing what I was doing.”
Oof. So sad.
He eventually “gave Linda 70% of everything” because he just wanted to be done with the divorce, leaving him “broke” with “no money.”
Despite all the turmoil and moving on to marry Jennifer McDaniel from 2010 to 2021, and Sky Daily Hogan from 2023 until his death, he said he was “happiest” when his kids were “young and really healthy” and with Linda as “the perfect mom” and “perfect soul mate.” For her part, Linda reflected:
“My love never faded for him. I still love him.”
Drug Use
Hulk also opened up about his steroids use. He explained:
“Back then, the mindset was steroids were safer than sugar. I first started using [them] two to three years after high school.”
In the 1990s, laws around steroid use changed and he recalled there “were a bunch of controversies.” At that time, in 1991, he denied using steroids – something nobody ever believed, causing a lot of backlash. He’d do it different if he could:
“It’s something that would be classified in the ‘mistake’ category. If I could relive it, I wouldn’t do it again.”
Steroids weren’t the only drugs he used, though. Amid health issues, when he returned to wrestling in 2009, he said he was using a scary amount of fentanyl:
“I was taking 80 milligram fentanyls, two in the morning, stuffing them under my gums…I had two 300-milligram patches of fentanyl on my legs, and they gave me six 1,500 milligram fentanyl lollipops to eat.”
A pharmacist told him at the time:
“You should be dead…..we have never seen a human being take this much fentanyl.”
Jeez.
Such a complex life. We’re sending love to his family and friends as they continue to mourn his loss. May he rest in peace.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing substance abuse, help is available. Consider checking out the resources SAMHSA provides at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline or check out StartYourRecovery.org
[Image via Netflix/YouTube]
