Hulk Hogan is opening up like never before in his final on-camera interview, revealing the extreme measures he took to cope with pain during the later years of his wrestling career. In the Netflix docuseries “Hulk Hogan: Real American,” the wrestling icon admitted he was taking life-threatening amounts of fentanyl while working with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) following his 2009 divorce from Linda Hogan.
According to Hogan, the physical toll of his career, combined with financial pressure after his divorce, led him back into the ring, even when his body could barely handle it. “I was taking 80-milligram fentanyls, two in the morning, stuffing them under my gums here … I had two 300mg patches of fentanyl on my legs, and they gave me six 1500mg fentanyl lollipops to eat,” he said in the documentary, which was filmed prior to his death.
The dosage was so extreme that even medical professionals were alarmed. “I went to the pharmacy, he goes, ‘You should be dead. We have never seen a human being take this much fentanyl,’” he recalled the professional telling him.
Hulk Hogan described living in constant pain, revealing he often had to sleep sitting upright. “If I just twitched my finger like that, my whole back would spasm and torque,” he said. His final in-ring appearance came in 2012, and he officially parted ways with TNA in 2013 when his contract expired.
He Was Not Sold On ‘Hulk Hogan’ At First
Elsewhere in the documentary, Hogan reflected on the origins of his now-iconic name. The wrestling legend explained that Vince McMahon Sr. suggested he adopt “Hulk Hogan,” despite already using “Hulk” due to his massive frame.
“I said, what is Hulk Hogan?” he recalled, noting that he was Italian and didn’t identify with the Irish-sounding name. After some hesitation, he ultimately agreed, a decision that would go on to define his legacy.
Linda Hogan Shares Wild First Date Story
The documentary also dives into Hulk Hogan’s relationship with his ex-wife, offering a glimpse into how it all began. While Hogan kept things relatively modest when describing how they met and “hit it off,” Linda had a much more vivid memory of their first night together.
She recalled going back to his apartment, where he disappeared into the bathroom before re-emerging “completely naked.” “It was like when you go to the zoo and see a… wooly mammoth,” she said. “He was huge. How many people can say they got f-cked by a giant?” she said.
Hulk Hogan Gets Emotional Recalling Brother’s Death
Hulk Hogan also opened up about one of the most painful moments of his life, the loss of his older brother, Allan Bollea. Allan died in 1986 at just 38 years old, and Hogan admitted their relationship had been complicated. “We weren’t that close. He grew up really fast,” he recalled. “By the time he was 17, he was riding with a bunch of bikers.”
As Hogan’s wrestling career took off, he said his brother would occasionally show up at matches, sometimes arriving with “like, ten Hell’s Angels.”
Hulk Hogan Overcome With Emotion
In the days leading up to Allan’s death, Hulk Hogan shared a moment that has stayed with him ever since. He recalled his brother approaching him in a parking lot, saying he had just gotten out of rehab and needed money. Hogan gave him the money, but made a decision he would later regret. “I didn’t take him with me,” he said, explaining he left for a wrestling event shortly after.
Not long after, he received devastating news: Allan had overdosed and died. “So I should have taken him with me instead of giving him the money. So that was the last time I saw him. It was … that was a hard one to get over,” Hogan said.
The grief was so overwhelming that Hogan admitted he “couldn’t handle” attending his brother’s funeral. During the interview, when asked to reflect further, the wrestling icon became visibly emotional and cut the conversation short. “You have to stop,” he said, struggling to continue.
“Hulk Hogan: Real American” is now streaming on Netflix.
