Oprah Explains the Hilarious Reason Why She Only Hugs Kids From the Side

From Oprah Magazine

• On the Atlanta, Georgia stop of Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson joined Oprah for a revealing interview.

• The 47-year-old wrestler and Hollywood star opened up about the recent loss of his father and his grieving process, as well as being a dad to three daughters and his relationship to his wife.

• Johnson also gave some stellar relationship advice.

Should you ever be tasked with entertaining a stadium-sized audience, here's a surefire way to get a crowd of 12,000 women–and a "few good men," as Oprah Winfrey joked during her 2020 Vision Tour—to their feet, erupting with glee.

It's simply, really: Have all six feet, five inches, and 260 pounds of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson strut on stage wearing a lilac sweater, smiling like he swallowed the sun and is now emitting beams of light.

During the fourth stop of Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour, the meeting of the two luminaries unfolded at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA. Oprah and Johnson embarked on a life-changing conversation, touching on grief, gratitude, and the unexpected gifts of life. And there I was as OprahMag.com's Culture Editor, sitting in Row K of section 121, desperately attempting to commit each of Johnson and Oprah's nuggets of wisdom to memory before they moved onto the next revelation.

Over the course of the hour, Johnson reflected on his extraordinary career, from the WWE's first third-generation Superstar (his father and grandfather were both wrestlers, too) to his transition as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. "There wasn’t a blueprint for me to follow," Johnson told Oprah, but he managed to carve a place as a beloved cultural figure and franchise star—with 167 million Instagram followers.

Yet Johnson also displayed the kind of admirable qualities that can't be summed up in a resume. Aside from the dimples and cocked eyebrow, Johnson's charm shone through in an unexpected spot: The interview's pauses. After Oprah asked him a question, Johnson waited, gathered his thoughts, and then delivered an answer, unwaveringly honest and considerate.

"Every question I asked, I could feel him listening and thinking about a response. That was really great," Oprah said after the interview was through. Tina, my seat-mate (and fast friend) and I, nodded to each other in agreement. "He is the perfect man," I whispered.

Considering the interview opened with a discussion of Johnson's late father, the former WWE wrestler had to be vulnerable from the get-go. Johnson's father, Rocky Johnson, passed away recently on January 15, 2020 at the age of 75.

Johnson was forthcoming with the reality of his relationship with his pro wrestler dad, which he characterized as "complicated." According to Johnson, his father raised him with "tough love," and was "not an 'I love you guy.'" So in the wake of his death, Johnson has been grappling with regret and conversations left unsaid.

To his surprise, Johnson has found his relationship with his father has not ended with death, but rather has continued to evolve. Oprah commented: “I often feel that when someone passes, you now have an angel you can call by name." Johnson agreed vehemently, telling the story of the night his father passed.

“The day he died, that night I went to bed, I felt so grateful and moved. Because I realized, oh wow, I have a new relationship with you. Clean slate. No regrets. No pain. No complications. Just me and you," Johnson said.

Later on, Johnson and Oprah toasted to his Rocky's memory with the first-ever bottle of Teremana tequila from Johnson's new, highly-anticipated spirits company, on sale soon. "I'd like to make a toast to your father, the man who helped make you the man you are," Oprah said.

As a father himself, Johnson's childhood experience now defines how he raises his daughters. Essentially, he became an "I love you" guy. Johnson has three daughters: Simone, 18 (who is training to become a wrestler), Jasmine, 4, and Tiana, 1.

"My dad loved me with the small capacity with which he was capable of. With my daughters, I want to be as full and and as present as I can. I want my daughters to know I love them truly unconditionally. As I told my 18-year-old daughter, Simone, 'I love you. I'm going to tell you I love you every day.' But I also told her, 'I'm unattached. You don't have to text me back. It's without condition.'"

Johnson also credits his daughters with teaching him how to become the emotionally attuned man he so clearly was onstage. “My daughters taught me how to be more caring. More sensitive. More selfless,” Johnson said.

In addition to the joyful challenges of fatherhood, Johnson also credits therapy with helping him arrive to be, as Oprah put it, "comfortable with his softer side." For a long time, Johnson says, he was the "strong, silent type," and kept his "feelings and emotions buried in" in an effort to seem "tough."

"Over the years, you realize a) it’s unhealthy, and b) it’s just not me. I need to talk about my issues and fears. Not only am I okay with it—I actually enjoy it," Johnson said. He believes masculinity is "completely changing," and it's a "longtime overdue."

Throughout the conversation, Johnson returned again and again the to the topic of family, which he called his "anchor" (along with exercise—forever the fitness junkie, Johnson travels with a 45,000 pound portable gym).

In August 2019, Johnson married singer Lauren Hashian, his partner of over 12 years and the mother of his two youngest daughters. Johnson said Hashian is his "Gayle," his "spiritual equal," and the one person he can always count on to tell him the truth.

Given the strength of his relationship with Hashian, Oprah asked Johnson to share some advice with the (few) men in the room about how to "keep their women happy." While most of us can't mimic Johnson's extraordinary career path, we can apply his wisdom to romantic endeavors.

“Remember that you're usually wrong. Keywords to remember: 'Yes, honey, you’re right,'" Johnson started, to a gust of laughter. Then, he got to his real answer. "Listen. Become a really good listener. It took me a long time to understand how important that was. When you become a good listener and really listen to your partner in this relationship of love and spirit, then inherently you become more empathetic. And when you become more empathetic, you understand your wife and partner on a deeper level. And then, there’s a greater level of appreciation, too."

However, when Oprah asked Johnson about prior guest Tina Fey's proposition that he, and all the other women guests on the 2020 Vision tour, move to an island and repopulate the human race, Johnson was game—so long as his wife was, too.

”We got work to do. In the spirit of populating the human race. I just have to ask my wife, Lauren,” Johnson said.

And, of course, the duo couldn't help but address the fact that they've both experienced rumors about running for President. Oprah joked: "I'd be your vice any day, honey!"

After an hour of generously sharing anecdotes about his life, Johnson did something unexpected: He thanked us for listening.

"I want you to know, especially this week, laying my dad to rest, I needed this from you. I needed this love. When you come to this room and you have 12,000 people with one intention, which is to be better and give love, it’s a powerful thing. So thank you. Truly," Johnson said.

Clearly, Johnson perfected the art of of listening, because he picked up on what the crowd of 12,000 adoring women were saying, through the din. Here's what we were saying, in case you're curious: We love you, Dwayne!

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