Dwayne Johnson Marks Late Father Rocky Johnson's 77th Birthday with Moving Tribute

Rob Latour/Shutterstock Dwayne Johnson and Rocky Johnson

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is honoring his father Rocky Johnson ahead of what would have been the late wrestler's 77th birthday.

On Saturday, the 49-year-old actor shared an emotional video detailing how his father helped him become the man he is today. The video also included some throwback footage of Rocky from his days as a football player.

"Man I look at life these days with deep gratitude, humility and a little grace - thankful for those dreams that didn't come true. That's the irony of life sometimes where the thing we want most — is sometimes it's the best thing that never happened," the Jungle Cruise star captioned his post on Instagram.

"I failed at becoming an NFL player. And as complicated as my relationship was with my old man, he was the one who eventually trained me to become a pro wrestler," he added. "And the rest is history."

"Rest In Peace Soulman and cheers to those dreams that don't come true," he added, referencing his dad's nickname from pro wrestling.

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In the clip, Johnson also got candid about the struggles he and his family faced early in his life.

"My dream was to become a professional football player, and felt like that was my path. And of course, that dream didn't come true. But life is so wildly unpredictable. And when you look back, sometimes the dreams that we have and the things that we want most to happen in life are sometimes the best things that never happen," he said.

The Rock/Twitter Dwayne Johnson

"Because truth is, had I not been evicted, and had we not been kicked off the island, that would not have set me on a path of being motivated and driven to work hard [and] work my ass off," Johnson continued. "I look back with gratitude and I look back now thankfully with a little bit of grace in knowing that all things worked out the way they should."

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Rocky died in 2020 after a blood clot "broke free" and traveled to one of his lungs, which caused a "massive heart attack, just like that," according to his son.

In 2018 Dwayne paid tribute to his dad on Instagram with a special Father's Day message.

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"Happy Father's Day to this hardly ever smiling OG badass," he captioned a throwback photo of the two showing off their muscles. "Little boys by nature, look up to and idolize their old man. They want to be just like em, do whatever they do and are always looking for their approval. Funny thing is the day I stopped looking for that approval was the day I understood what it meant to be man and more importantly, a father."

He continued: "That shift lifted me to a new level of gratitude for the tough love he always gave. Years later as a man and father of three girls, I know that tough love, is a helluva lot better than no love at all. I'll take it. It's made me who I am today. Grateful to the original Rock."