The Untold Truth Of Dwayne Johnson's Ex-Wife

After ten years of marriage, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and first wife Dany Garcia announced in 2007 that they were going their separate ways. Well, on a personal level anyway. Proving that at least some Hollywood relationships can end in amicable circumstances, the pair subsequently became working buddies instead.

Yes, Garcia actually gave up her full-time job to become Johnson's manager, steering the former wrestler to even further screen success in the likes of the "Fast and Furious" and "Jumanji" franchises and his origins sitcom "Young Rock." Oh, and by 2016, her behind-the-scenes skills helped her ex-husband rake in more money than any other actor on the planet.

But how did Garcia become such a major player in Tinseltown? How do her and Johnson's new spouses get along with each other? And what is her involvement with another A-lister who looks like they could snap you in half like a twig with ease? Here's a look at the multi-talented star's untold truth.

After graduating from the University of Miami in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Dany Garcia went on to establish herself as a major player in the financial world. Before the Belleville, New Jersey, native started working with a certain WWE legend, she cut her teeth as VP at investment management powerhouse Merrill Lynch and then went on to work for herself at her own firm. 

Although she eventually left this role in 2008 to focus on becoming the manager of ex-husband Dwayne Johnson, Garcia would continue to diversify, most notably with her own global brand development agency. ZOA Energy, Acorns and Seven Bucks Productions are just a few of the names that the imaginatively-titled The Garcia Companies counts as clients.

Speaking to Marie Claire in 2017, Garcia said that the decision to abandon her Wall Street career wasn't as drastic as some people might have thought. She explained, "From the time Dwayne was playing football at the University of Miami to wrestling in the WWE, to emerging in film, I was always in the background guiding him, giving counsel, and adding a business point of view to all the decisions."

So it turns out that Dwayne Johnson wasn't the only person in his first marriage who could merit the nickname "The Rock." Yes, his ex-wife Dany Garcia is also a keen bodybuilder. In fact, it was while pumping iron in college that the pair first bumped into each other, and Garcia immediately recognized the future big-deal actor's undeniable star power. The businesswoman explained to CNBC in 2022, "I was in my senior year on the varsity crew team, and he was in his freshman year, recovering from an injury playing football. I was so impressed with his poise. ... He just had something that was so magnetic and I was so intrigued."

Although they both shared a love of strength training, Garcia took a little while longer to show off her muscles. It was only in 2011 that she first competed as a bodybuilder professionally. But after achieving her IFBB Pro Card three years later, Muscle and Fitness reported the Belleville native was signed by AMI/Weider. In a statement obtained by Muscle and Fitness, Garcia said, "I'm thrilled to be joining such an elite group of athletes who have had a powerful impact on a sport I love."

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Dany Garcia has $40 million in the bank. A highly impressive figure for sure, but not one that would have ever come as a particular surprise for the businesswoman. Indeed, in a 2017 interview with Marie Claire, the former Mrs. Dwayne Johnson revealed that she'd always been confident she'd one day join the seven-figure club.

Referring to her Cuban immigrant parents, Garcia said, "When I was younger, I always remember thinking, 'I'm going to be a millionaire. I'm going to take care of them.' I think that's a great simplistic approach, and it drove me." The former financier didn't waste any time in her money-making mission, jumping into work when she was in junior high. "I ran a barn in New Jersey, then I sold business suits when I was in high school," she told the publication. 

Garcia may have achieved her childhood goal, but she now has a new one in mind: "My family's happy and now well taken care of. So all of a sudden, that vision expands. It became, 'How can I take care of the world? How can I do more?'" The mogul went on to do more by launching the Beacon Experience, an initiative designed to help empower at-risk children via education. 

Not content with conquering the business world and Hollywood, Dany Garcia added to her resume in 2021 with the launch of her very own clothing brand. GSTQ, which stands for God Save the Queen, offers outfits that are functional and stylish. As she told WWD, she's wanted to create a fashion company ever since she was a teenager.

In an interview with E! News, Garcia said she was inspired by the problems she has faced trying to find clothes she likes and also work for her bodybuilder's build. "There was this space where clothing wasn't meeting me," she said. "It wasn't moving with me and moving with a 15-hour day. And I thought, gosh, clothing with a mindset that's all about the wearer and her needs and being supportive and saying, 'I've got you girl. You put this on and then we go.'" 

Of course, GSTQ isn't the only successful company that Garcia has started from scratch. Alongside ex-husband Dwayne Johnson, she also got in on the spirits game with the launch of Teremana Tequila. 

In 2020, Dwayne Johnson and ex-wife business partner Dany Garcia, alongside private equity company RedBird Capital, bought the XFL from WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon for a cool $15 million. Remarkably, this was the first time that a woman had become a co-owner of a major American sports league.

And in an interview with SI, Garcia shared she was proud to be such a game-changer, noting the bittersweet significance of this moment. "It's incredible," she said. "I wish I was the 20th. That would be wonderful. But the fact that I'm the first, it's one of those things where you have to sit back and think about it for a moment, think about the enormity." 

The XFL had folded for a second time just four months before Garcia and Johnson came to the rescue. The original incarnation had also lasted just a single season back at the turn of the century, but the businesswoman told People she believes that its potential has yet to be tapped. "I think one of the greatest things about the XFL, as a startup, is that everyone recognizes every moment matters," she shared. "It matters to the person who's in the seat. It matters to the athlete who's on the field ... that's magic, right? You care. When you care, that changes everything."

Okay, so it's not quite at the level of Shania Twain getting together with the man whose wife her husband Mutt Lange had left her for. But still, Dany Garcia marrying the man who trains her ex is still a pretty unusual development.

Yes, in 2014 the businesswoman walked down the aisle with Dave Rienzi, the personal trainer who had helped Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson maintain his super-muscular physique. Luckily, all three parties still get along. Indeed, Johnson wished Rienzi well on the day he got hitched to Garcia, tweeting, "Congrats to my strength coach and one of the best dudes I know." They even went into business together to launch ZOA, an energy drink which the wrestler-turned-actor has repeatedly promoted.

Rienzi continues to make sure that Johnson stays in tip-top shape, a task which he appears to take very seriously. As he told Muscle and Fitness, "We hold his conditioning in a very tight window to allow him to be 'scene ready' at any moment. Keeping him at striking distance ensures that we never need to take drastic measures to obtain a certain look or over-stress his body. ... The execution of his diet and training needs to be as nuanced and complementary as possible to allow him to do that consistently." What do you know, The Rock doesn't follow a casual, go-with-the-flow workout regime. 

Although part of TV show "Young Rock" is set in a fictional future where Dwayne Johnson is the president of the United States, the majority takes place in the very real past when the wrestler slash actor was a complete unknown. And with Dany Garcia being such an integral part of The Rock's story, it was inevitable that she'd eventually show up in the NBC hit, too.

Of course, Garcia doesn't actually play herself. In 2022, that role went to Arlyn Broche, a relative newcomer who'd previously worked alongside Johnson in the drama "Ballers." And the CEO is over the moon about this particular casting choice. She shared on Instagram, "The second season of our Seven Bucks Productions hit show, 'Young Rock,' dives into a pivotal time in our lives when we both had big dreams and were learning by trial and error how to make them a reality. The talented and beautiful Arlyn Broche did us the honor of bringing our on-screen Dany Garcia to life. Thank you for shining on both our behalf!"

Not only is Dany Garcia, along with second husband Dave Rienzi, still best buds with her ex-spouse Dwayne Johnson. She also appears to get along extremely well with his new wife. Yes, if you scroll their respective Instagram accounts, you'll find several photos of Garcia and Johnson's second wife, Lauren Hashian, enjoying each other's company. And the pair will regularly attend red carpet events together with the wrestler-turned-actor. Just see the photos from the "Red Notice" premiere for proof.

Speaking to People in 2021, Garcia explained how all parties are more than happy to have such amicable relationships. "[Dwayne's] amazing wife, my fantastic husband are so supportive of our relationship and our union that there's real balance," she said. "There's real balance to keep us in the present. And then, it was so many years ago, we're such different people. So it's a good thing."

And in a chat with Newsweek five years earlier, Garcia credited both her husband and her ex-husband's new wife for helping them to become a blended family. "What brings the magic is the perspective from Dave and Lauren," she shared. "They're focused on family, they have so many of the same virtues [as we do]."

Dany Garcia is super organized. So much so that she tries to stick to the same routine every day. And while it's now quite as demanding as Mark Wahlberg's extreme exercise-snack-cryogenic chamber routine, it still sounds pretty rigid.

In an interview with Glamour, the producer revealed that she gets up at 6.30 a.m. for a coffee session with her husband Dave Rienzi and their dogs before hitting the gym for a 90-minute workout: "I train by myself, and it's a very centering moment. I don't do CrossFit or anything; I train to inspire me for the rest of my day, to set me up for success, not drain me to take a nap. It's a physical meditation for me." As far as daily meals go, there's a routine there, too. "I eat four times a day, at very specific times, and I usually have my last meal by 6 p.m. so that I have a big fasting window before I eat again," she told The Cut.

In the aforementioned Glamour story, Garcia shared that her workday of meetings and whatnot usually ends around 6 p.m. And although the former Mrs. Dwayne Johnson undoubtedly works hard, it seems fair to say that she doesn't particularly play hard. "I'm so boring — lights out by 9:30 p.m," she said. "When you train physically, you can't cheat the rest, or your muscles turn into pancakes. You literally have to sleep."

Whenever successful businesswomen are portrayed on the big screen, it's usually in a ballsy, no-nonsense manner which suggests that they've risen to power with an iron fist. Think Margaret Tate in "The Proposal." But Dany Garcia is proof that sometimes it's possible to climb to the top by being nice.

Speaking to Forbes in 2016, the professional bodybuilder insisted that she's never been one to try and assert her dominance in the workplace. "If I'm looking for a solution it must serve all the pillars of my life," she explained. "And if I don't have the answer, I have the patience to wait for one. I've found that people who succeed by just pounding, pounding, pounding ... don't have that balance." As far as she's concerned, her style generates results that actually stick.

In the aforementioned interview, it's clear that Garcia prioritizes staying positive, productive, and realistic; she feels it's better to move on than to force something that does not fit. "I can sit with HBO and just ask, 'What do you need? Here's what we have. Do they match? If not, no worries,'" she said.  

Some WWE alums who have spoken out about Vince McMahon — looking at you, CM Punk and Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose — whereas others, like Dwayne Johnson, sing The Chairman's praises. "@VinceMcMahon was one of my greatest business mentors and a father figure," The Rock tweeted in 2021. "Not always the relationship one would want with their boss but the convergence of our lives made it to be." Likewise, Dany Garcia has said she's learned a lot from the WWE CEO.

In a 2016 interview with Newsweek, the entrepreneur gushed about McMahon's influence on her own career. "He has taught me some amazing lessons that we use [today] as far as taking care of the audience and being an audience-driven company," she said. "He's helped raise the lion is how he looks at it."

Although Johnson left the WWE behind back in 2004, he and Garcia still have several dealings with the man who helped to turn it into a global phenomenon. And they don't need to rely on official paperwork, either. The businesswoman added, "We have no legal agreements between us. With Vince McMahon, we've always been able to shake hands. That's a very special relationship in this day and age. That we can operate with that level of trust."

You wouldn't imagine that the impossibly busy Dany Garcia has the time to guide the career of another A-lister. But as well as looking after her ex-husband Dwayne Johnson, the workaholic also manages Superman, aka British actor Henry Cavill.

Garcia announced on Instagram in 2016 that the pin-up had become The Garcia Companies' second celebrity client. And in an interview with Newsweek shortly after, she revealed she had plans to turn Cavill into one of the world's biggest stars. "Henry has a big appetite," she said. "We've been in a five-month period of time where he's re-strategizing, acquiring property, he's filming ['Justice League'] now, he's in development for the 'Superman' standalone ... he's beginning to expand that world." Sure enough, Cavill has remained busy, thanks to roles in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout," "Enola Holmes," and "The Witcher."

Cavill and Garcia appear to have a mutually supportive relationship. In 2021, the latter took to Instagram to wish the former luck with her latest venture, GSTQ: "Wanted to say a huge congratulations to my good friend, manager, and colleague Dany Garcia for realizing a childhood dream of hers and releasing her own clothing line! I wonder what that young woman named Dany would have said if you told her that her dreams would come true!"

As a professional bodybuilder who became the first woman to join AMI/Weider's roster, Dany Garcia doesn't seem like a person that you'd want to mess with. But back in her childhood days she was a regular target for her school's bullies.

In an interview for "Bullied But Not Broken," the entrepreneur revealed that she was constantly tormented from the age of ten for a number of reasons, including her small size. Garcia recalled, "I spent quite a few years with just a friend, maybe one."

The bullying stopped when Garcia got to high school and discovered the world of fitness. "I stopped paying attention to people who couldn't understand me and started paying attention to the things that made me feel really great," she shared. However, the mogul also acknowledged that the hardships had made her the person she is today. 

When Simone Johnson was a little kid, Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson did their best to steer their only child together away from of the public eye. In a 2017 The Hollywood Reporter piece celebrating famous mothers and daughters, the businesswoman explained, "She needed to be sheltered from an environment where there's paparazzi, where people are interested in what she was wearing at a very young age."

But Garcia is now far more comfortable with Simone making a name for herself in the entertainment world. That's a good job, too, as in the late 2010s the teen signed a deal with IMG Models and graced the stage of the awards season's second biggest ceremony as a Golden Globes Ambassador. In a separate 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the youngster revealed, "As much as I love and admire the film industry, I don't see myself pursuing a career in it at the moment. I plan to study business in college — NYU, hopefully — and after graduating, I want to pursue wrestling and eventually transition into talent management."

A few years later, the squared circle beckoned in a big way. In 2020, Simone joined WWE, and as of this writing, she's still getting ready to make her official in-ring debut. "What an honor that my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps," The Rock told Jimmy Fallon. "And she wound up being the youngest signee in the history of the company."