Dwayne Johnson doesn’t love the idea of being the president. However, the U.S. public has an appetite for it, and who is Johnson to deny his fellow Americans?
“The Rock” expressed his conflicting feelings about running for office while topping People‘s list of 100 Reasons to Love America.
“I love our country to my core and I’m endlessly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here, as a half-Black, half-Samoan kid being able to work my ass off knowing tenacity opens doors,” Johnson tells the mag. “In a lot of ways, I’m indebted to our great country for it.”
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“And let me be clear, I’m not a politician nor did I ever have political passions, and quite frankly I’m not sure I even have the patience or resignation to deal with the B.S. that comes with politics and politicians,” he adds, “but when 46 per cent of Americans [in a recent poll] say they’re in favour of me becoming president, that forces me to humbly and respectfully stand up, listen and learn.”
“The Rock” opened up about facing discrimination over the years for his ethnic background.
“When I wasn’t on this island [Hawaii], I was usually primarily in the South. And at that time growing up, you run into discrimination. You run into discrimination at the workplace,” he says. “But I’ve always been of the mindset that I can’t change that and I can’t change the way I look.
“I was born with this colour and who I am and where I’m from. So the best thing that I could do is control the controllables, put in the work with my own two hands, and if someone then continues to choose to discriminate against me, well, that’s on them.”
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Johnson has gone from leading man in the world of WWE to leading man in Hollywood. All that success — and all those muscles — don’t stop him from being human. “The Rock” details his experiences with depression.
“The first time I was 18 years old and I had no idea what depression was. Back then it was called, ‘Get off the couch, get your s**t together, and change what’s happening here.’ I was an only child, and I was always a better listener than I was a communicator, in terms of sharing my feelings.
“The most important thing obviously is communicating and realizing that asking for help is actually the most powerful thing you can do, and it’s not a weakness. Men especially fall into this trap of being really adverse to vulnerability. But the truth is you have to, hopefully over time, learn to embrace that. It’s all part of life.”
