Sometimes it is easy to overlook our own wellbeing and happiness in the never-ending quest for success. This is especially true in Hollywood, where actors of all skill levels have to suffer due to the pressure to look a certain way. In the case of Dwayne Johnson, his business partner and ex-wife, Dany Garcia, was instrumental in his career transformation by giving him sound advice when he grew weary of constantly losing weight for movie roles.
The Rock is currently linked to many critically acclaimed franchises and highly ambitious projects. Johnson keeps expanding his empire, and there is simply no stopping him. Despite the fact that the actor and co-producer of Skyscraper is enjoying success as a result of his abilities and dedication, his steady, unwavering growth would not have been possible without the painstaking work of his ex-wife and manager.
Dany Garcia’s Career-Changing Advice to Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson had spent years putting himself through demanding workouts and diet plans in order to shape his body into what the industry desired. In an interview with Marie Claire, his ex-wife Dany Garcia discussed managing the Free Guy actor and what it took him to succeed in Hollywood:
“In any partnership, you have to double down on the talent or the asset. It can never be about, ‘You need to change more. You need to get smaller. You need to do this. You need to look like this.’ It has to be more of a true belief: ‘Who are you and what are you passionate about?”
The retired professional wrestler felt exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally because he had to lose weight and build up muscle for many of his movie roles. His general health had begun to suffer as a result of the constant pressure to change his body. The film producer and entrepreneur who started managing Johnson’s career in 2008 gave him some advice, saying:
“So Dwayne and I had a conversation. He had lost a lot of weight to fit certain parts, and he said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I need to be me.’ I supported him and said, ‘Let’s do you. That’s all we need to do. Let’s make Hollywood make room for you’.”
Hollywood Judged Dany Garcia for Taking Over Dwayne Johnson’s Career?
It took a lot of work for both Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson to take over as the latter’s manager. The founder of GSTQ took over as her ex-husband’s global strategic advisor in the same year that they divorced (2008). She acknowledged in an interview with Marie Claire that the Hollywood industry was extremely critical of her early work (as The Rock’s manager) and that that became extremely taxing for her:
“I did have to overcome judgments like, ‘Wait, is his ex-wife managing him?’ People are trying to put you in a category—not in a bad way, but just so they know how to relate. I had to become very comfortable, very quickly, with creating a new paradigm: ‘Yes, I am his manager. Yes, we were once married. Now, let’s go build shit together’.”
Their relationship was entirely transformed after their divorce. Johnson admitted that there was a lot of work done in the background, particularly in terms of communication between the two parties.
The actor, 51, was questioned about his ex-wife and their relationship in an interview with Sway’s Universe. His response was as follows:
“Where we’re at today comes with a lot of work and a lot of digging in. I mean, that was years ago. Now, while marriage wasn’t in our cards, we did realize, ‘Well, wait a second, we’re building something that’s pretty cool.’ Marriage may not be in our cards, but building business can be. And that took time.”
Garcia and Johnson got married on May 3, 1997, after meeting as University of Miami students. However, the ex-couple declared in 2007 that they were divorcing amicably; the divorce was finalized in 2008. Meanwhile, The Mummy Returns actor started dating Lauren Hashian in 2007 and they later got married in 2019.
Next up for him professionally is Jake Kasdan’s upcoming action-adventure Christmas movie Red One, in which he plays Callum Drift. The release date has yet to be announced.
