Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson says he was arrested ‘eight or nine times’ as a teenager

Wrestler-turned-actor has revealed run-ins with the police for fighting and theft

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has opened up about his childhood while promoting a new sitcom about his life, Young Rock.

The NBC TV show, which is produced by wrestler-turned-actor Johnson, looks back on his “tough” upbringing, rebellious teenage years and early success as an American football player in college.

“My life was incredibly complicated and it was incredibly tough growing up,” he told The Sun.

Johnson’s father Wayde Douglas Bowles – nicknamed Rocky – was a World Wrestling Federation champion before there was much money in the sport, and would often struggle to pay the rent.

The family, which also included Johnson’s mother Ata Maivia, moved around constantly, and by the time Johnson was a teenager, he had lived in 13 different states.

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It was while living in Hawaii that Johnson turned to petty crime. “Thirteen is when I started to veer off the tracks,” he said. “I started getting arrested for fighting, theft, all kinds of stupid [stuff] that I shouldn’t have been doing.”

He explained that, with a group of friends, he would look out for wealthy tourists outside designer shops: “We would target the money, we would target the high-end clothes and we would target the jewellery – turn around and sell it.”

He said he was arrested “eight or nine times” by the time he was 17 for offences including theft, fraud and fighting, describing himself as “a kid who had some anger issues but also thought he was really cool”.

Johnson is the world’s highest-paid actor, having earned $87.5m (£63m) between June 2019 and June 2020, according to Forbes.

He was widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and since 2002 has starred in films such as The Scorpion King and The Game Plan as well as movies in the Fast & Furious and Jumanji franchises.