Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson reveals he was told to 'drop some weight' during 'miserable' start in Hollywood

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By VT

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There's no denying that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is one of the most successful men in existence.

Aside from being a ten-time world wrestling champion, he has also managed to forge an extremely successful career for himself in show business. Having starred in huge blockbusters such as Moana and The Fast and the Furious franchise, Johnson is one of the highest-paid actors on the planet.

In light of all this, there's absolutely no questioning that he merits yesterday's win at the MTV Movie & TV Awards:

During the ceremony, the wrestler-turned-movie star was honoured with the Generation Award.

And if there's one thing Johnson excels really excels at (well, aside from being the crème de la crème of the wrestling world), it's that he really knows how to captivate an audience. And that's exactly what he did in his acceptance speech.

The 47-year-old stunned the crowd as he recounted his rather demoralising experience during his early days in Hollywood.

Dwayne The Rock Johnson
Credit: 1404

When Johnson started out, he says was repeatedly told he would have to change certain aspects about himself if he wanted to make it.

"When I first got to Hollywood, Hollywood - they didn’t know what the hell to do with me," he told the audience. "I was this half-black, half-Samoan, 6 foot 4, 275-pound wrestler."

"I was told at that time, you’ve gotta be a certain way. You’ve gotta drop some weight, you’ve gotta be somebody different, you’ve gotta stop working out, stop doing the things that I love, you’ve gotta stop calling yourself ‘The Rock,'" he continued.

"For years, I actually bought into it because you think, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do.' And I was miserable doing that, so I made a choice. The choice was, I wasn't going to conform to Hollywood; Hollywood was going to conform to me."