The Tragic Life Of WWE Superstar Hulk Hogan

Note: This article discusses substance abuse, suicide and racial slurs.

When Hulk Hogan died on July 24, 2025, at the age of 71, the WWE icon left behind a complicated legacy, to say the least. During his glory days during the 1980s, Hogan (who was born Terry Bollea) pretty much singlehandedly transformed professional wrestling from a seedy sideshow to mainstream entertainment for the masses, becoming a pop-culture phenomenon in the process. As a wrestler, Hogan wore many personas, from squeaky-clean role model to nefarious villain, with his mid-1990s heel turn revitalizing his career when "Hulkamania" was on the wane. Right until the end, Hogan remained the most recognizable pro wrestler on the planet.

During the course of his career, Hogan branched out by starring in movies and rode the wave of reality TV with his series "Hogan Knows Best," which chronicled the day-to-day lives of him and his family. Wrestling, however, was always his bread and butter, and he supplied his services for various companies as he exited and returned to Vince McMahon's WWE numerous times over the years.

His personal life, however, was often messy. Hogan was continually dogged by controversy and scandal, ranging from his admission that his massive muscles came from anabolic steroids to the salacious sex tape that resulted in a lawsuit against the Gawker media empire that brought him multiple millions. In fact, as the years progressed, Hogan's pattern of unsavory behavior eroded his popularity, shifting the focus from his impressive achievements to his many, many missteps. To find out more, read on for a look at the tragic life of WWE superstar Hulk Hogan.

While viewers tuned in to the wholesome antics of Hulk Hogan, wife Linda, and teenage kids Brooke on hit reality show "Hogan Knows Best," reality intruded in a horrific manner just weeks after the series' fourth season concluded. In October 2007, the wrestler's son, Nick Hogan, was arrested after the car he was driving crashed, leaving his friend, military veteran John Graziano, in critical condition.

Not only did that spell the end of "Hogan Knows Best," the accident also resulted in Nick being hit with several criminal charges, including reckless driving involving serious bodily injury. At the time, authorities indicated that those charges could escalate if Graziano didn't survive. Nick entered a plea of no contest and was sentenced to eight months behind bars; he was released after serving just five months.

Graziano did survive, but was left paralyzed and in a permanent vegetative state. His parents sued the Hogans, with the lawsuit ultimately settled out of court. While the terms of the settlement were not initially disclosed, it was later revealed to be in the vicinity of $5 million. According to reports, after hospital bills and legal fees were paid out, the amount left over for Graziano's lifelong care was just $1.5 million. To say that the Graziano family was disappointed by the outcome was an understatement. "It's appallingly low," the family's attorney, John Trevena, told the Tampa Bay Times of the settlement amount. "I was stunned. It's a tenth of the value I had anticipated."

Weeks after Nick Hogan's near-fatal car crash and the subsequent cancellation of "Hogan Knows Best," TMZ reported in November 2007 that Linda Hogan had filed divorce papers to end her marriage to Hulk Hogan. While the legal documents obtained by the outlet didn't specify a reason for the split, that became crystal clear the following February, when Christiane Plante — best friend of the couple's daughter, Brooke Hogan — revealed that she'd had a torrid affair with the WWE star.

Plante told the National Enquirer that the Hogans' marriage was essentially over at the time of her dalliance with the married wrestler. However, she claimed to be consumed with guilt and realized that her actions had destroyed her friendship with Brooke. "I will never be able to fully forgive myself for this," she said, via Today.com. "I have lost an amazing friend."

Linda, however, disputed Plante's characterization that she and her husband were through when he cheated, and insisted the real reason they got divorced was his infidelity. "When Linda discovered Hulk had [an affair] with Brooke's best friend, Christiane Plante, she made the decision to call it quits on the marriage," her publicist, Gary Smith, told E! News in a statement, accusing the Hulkster of attempting damage control by putting his own spin on the situation. "Hulk has even implied that the VH1 hit show, 'Hogan Knows Best,' was the cause of split in his marriage," Smith added. "Almost every statement that comes out of Hulk's mouth is a diversionary tactic to deflect attention away from the real reason Linda filed for divorce, two words: HULK'S CHEATING!"

Hulk Hogan's divorce from Linda Hogan quickly turned nasty. In fact, Hulk and Linda Hogan's divorce was a messy (and costly) affair. Affidavits filed by the dueling spouses lifted the curtain on their prodigious spending, indicating that while the pro wrestler may have been making a fortune, he and his family had been burning through that money at a breakneck pace. In those affidavits, Hogan claimed he was worth $32 million and was spending a whopping $38,000 per month on legal fees. Also revealed was how much Linda spent on a monthly basis, an amount that included $7,000 on clothing, $7,500 for housekeeping, and approximately $1,700 on jewelry.

So how much did Hulk Hogan lose in his divorce? When the dust settled, it was Linda who walked away with the lion's share of the cash. According to the St. Petersburg Times (via USA Today), Linda was awarded in excess of 70% of their shared liquid assets (estimated at just under $7.5 million), along with a 40% stake in Hulk's companies, and a lump-sum payout of $3 million that was described as a "property settlement." The only silver lining for the wrestler was that he kept his collection of vintage cars and was not required to pay any alimony.

Meanwhile, the shady side of the Hogan family emerged in Linda's 2011 memoir, "Wrestling The Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes," in which she accused him of being physically abusive toward her throughout their marriage, allegedly dragging her by her hair and even choking her. He fired back by suing her for defamation; as CBS News reported, his lawsuit claimed that her allegations "exposed him to distrust, hatred, contempt and ridicule."

Prior to his wife's tell-all, Hulk Hogan wrote his own book, "My Life Outside the Ring." In that tome, he claimed to have been blindsided by Linda's divorce filing. "I practically begged her, 'Please, don't file. Our son's just had this accident — if we do this now, it'll make us look like the Britney Spears family. Please, don't file for divorce,'" he wrote.

It was at that point that he began sinking into a severe depression, hitting a point so low that he began seriously contemplating taking his own life. He found himself holding a gun, his finger on the trigger, as he stared at himself in a mirror for two continuous days. "A gun was in my hand and my finger was on the trigger and I was thinking, it would just be so easy," he wrote.

Just as he was steeling himself to pull the trigger, his phone rang. On the other end of the line was Laila Ali, daughter of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali and his co-host on the TV series "American Gladiators." Hearing her voice as she expressed her concern for him suddenly made him realize the gravity of what he was preparing to do. "For some reason, that phone call snapped me out of it," he added. "I can't explain why ... Laila Ali saved my life."

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Having been cleaned out in his divorce, by 2011, Hulk Hogan's financial situation was far more precarious than fans could have possibly imagined. Hogan spilled the beans during a 2011 appearance on "Good Morning America," revealing that he was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and had been forced to scale down his lifestyle considerably. "[I lost] hundreds of millions. There were houses being bought, cars being bought, vacations for family members ... There were eight, nine, 10, 11 of them moving into our house," he said, as reported by Slam! Sports.

At that time, Hogan and his second wife — he married Jennifer McDaniel in late 2010 — were trying to embrace a more modest way of living, something that he said they'd been succeeding with. "They are getting better," he said of his financial woes, revealing that he and his wife were now living in a rental home. "I'm not living in abundance," he conceded. "But I'm happy now. [Money] helps get through the day, it helps make things easier, but it is nothing to do with being happy."

During the 2010s, one of Hulk Hogan's closest friends was Todd Clem, a radio shock jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge. The men were tight, with Hogan even serving as best man when Clem tied the knot with wife Heather. One night while visiting the couple, Hogan accepted Heather's offer — with her husband's approval — to take him to bed. They got down to business, but Hogan didn't realize that their lovemaking was being recorded via a hidden camera installed in the bedroom.

That sex tape wound up on the Gawker website in 2012, six years after it was recorded, causing all manner of embarrassment for Hogan. He blamed his friends for the tape — which was recorded without his knowledge — winding up on the internet. "He feels absolutely betrayed," Hogan's lawyer David Houston said, as reported by the New York Daily News. Hogan sued Gawker for violating his privacy, seeking $100 million — and won; the jury in the case ultimately awarded him $140 million in damages (later reduced to $31M in a settlement). 

Hogan also sued Todd and Heather Clem for their role in leaking the sex tape to Gawker. That suit was eventually settled; while the terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed, it apparently included a provision requiring Bubba the Love Sponge to issue an apology on his radio show. "It is my belief that Hulk is not involved, and has not ever been involved, in trying to release the video, or exploit it, or otherwise gain from the video's release in any way," he said, as reported by E! News.

In 2015, ahead of the Gawker trial, Hulk Hogan's infamous sex tape sparked a whole new scandal when a recorded conversation with Heather Clem wound up in the hands of the National Enquirer and sister site RadarOnline. In that tape, Hogan bemoans the possibility that his daughter, Brooke Hogan, might be sleeping with Black men. "I mean, I am a racist, to a point," Hogan said, liberally peppering the conversation with the N-word. "I guess we're all a little racist," he added.

The backlash hit like a tsunami, so damaging that WWE instantly cut ties with Hogan by terminating his contract. Meanwhile, he was removed from the WWE Hall of Fame, with all traces of his existence eradicated from the WWE website. Damage control was required, and Hogan issued a groveling apology. "Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it," Hogan said in a statement to People. "This is not who I am," he added. "I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs."

Adding insult to injury, toy manufacturer Mattel issued a tweet confirming they were halting production of Hulk Hogan action figures, and all Hogan-related products. Meanwhile, Hogan had become so toxic that key U.S. retailers — including Target, Walmart and Toys R Us — yanked all of its Hogan-branded merchandise off shelves.

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Shortly after his divorce was finalized, 57-year-old Hulk Hogan married his second wife Jennifer McDaniel, who was 20 years his junior. The nuptials took place in December 2010, proving to be somewhat unique in that the wedding had to be interrupted when a scuffle broke out between a Hogan employee and a persistent paparazzi. The marriage weathered Hogan's sex-tape scandal and his racist-language controversy, but Hogan's second attempt at wedded bliss ultimately didn't stand the test of time. In 2021, he filed for divorce after nearly 11 years of matrimony. 

Unlike Hogan's divorce from his first ex-wife Linda Hogan, his parting from McDaniel was done quietly and, apparently, amicably. In fact, their split had taken place so secretly that the divorce seemingly flew under the radar — so much so that when photos of Hogan and his new girlfriend, yoga instructor Sky Daily, appeared on social media, she was incorrectly identified as McDaniel. Hogan issued a tweet to correct the record. "I am officially divorced, sorry I thought everyone already knew," he wrote.

McDaniel did not exit the relationship empty-handed. TMZ obtained legal documents related to the divorce, which detailed some terms of the settlement. One stipulation called for Hogan to buy McDaniel a new car, paid for in full, while McDaniel also held onto a home they'd purchased together in Palm Isle, Florida. As in his previous divorce, Hogan paid no alimony, instead making a one-time payment to McDaniel, of an undisclosed sum. Finally, the settlement also included a non-disparagement clause, prohibiting either of them from speaking ill of the other. 

As Hulk Hogan grew older, his past caught up with him. Decades of wrestling had taken their toll on his body, which resulted in numerous surgical procedures. "I've had, like, 25 surgeries in the last 10 years. Ten of them were back surgeries," Hogan revealed during a chat with controversial social media personality Logan Paul during a 2024 appearance on Paul's "Impaulsive" podcast. Those surgeries, he added, also included replacing both his knees and both hips.

Hogan blamed his battered body on the antiquated wrestling rings when he first began his pro wrestling career in the late 1970s, which were far more punishing than those in use today. "André [the Giant] used to tell me, 'Boss, don't fall down. You won't get back up.' It was like a 22-foot boxing ring that had lumps in it, boards sticking up — it was horrible," Hogan recalled.

Meanwhile, it's possible that the anabolic steroids he'd taken to grow huge as a young wrestler may have been a factor in his eventual death from cardiac arrest, given that steroids have been found to contribute to the risk of heart attacks. Days before Hogan's death, his former friend Bubba the Love Sponge told listeners about disturbing reports he'd heard that the wrestler's health had deteriorated and he was at death's door. "They've gone as far as they can go at the hospital," Bubba said of those reports indicating the end was near. "They're keeping him comfortable in his home in a hospital bed."

In October 2023, Hulk Hogan walked down the aisle for a third time, tying the knot with Sky Daily. As TMZ reported, the ceremony was small and intimate, yet there was one glaring absence: the groom's daughter, Brooke Hogan. She later took to Instagram (she subsequently took her account private) to address the apparent rift with her father. "Instead of leaving it to speculation, I decided it's better to shut it all down here," she wrote, via Yahoo! Entertainment. "I have chosen to create some distance between myself and my family, and am focusing on people and things that heal my heart and align with my own personal beliefs, goals, and values."

As time passed, the tragic details about Hogan's relationship with daughter Brooke began to emerge. A source confirmed to the Daily Mail that Hogan and his daughter had not been on good terms in the years leading up to his 2025 death, a situation that saddened the wrestler immensely. "There was a little strain with his daughter and their relationship that had taken quite the emotional toll, but he always thought he would eventually be able to rectify that," the source said. 

Sadly, that never happened; Brooke was still estranged from her father when he passed away. A source told TMZ that they hadn't spoken in years, that their final conversation had taken place a few weeks before his 2023 wedding. That source also claimed that her husband, hockey player Steve Olesky, had unsuccessfully attempted to intervene in hopes of bringing father and daughter together; Hogan's response to those overtures was described as "cold," and he never made any efforts to meet her two children.