10 Biggest Bombshells from Hulk Hogan’s Final Interview in Netflix's “Hulk Hogan: Real American”

Natasha DyeWed, April 22, 2026 at 4:01 AM UTC

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Hulk Hogan in 'Hulk Hogan: Real American'Credit: Courtesy of Netflix -

Hulk Hogan gave his final interview for Netflix's new four-part docuseries Hulk Hogan: Real American just months before his death in July 2025

The WWE legend spoke candidly, sharing several revelations about his declining health, his divorce from ex-wife Linda Hogan and the controversies during his career

The docuseries includes additional interviews with the wrestler's ex-wife, Linda; widow Sky Daily Hogan and his son, Nick, along with former friends and colleagues

Months before suffering a fatal heart attack in July 2025, Hulk Hogan allowed cameras into his home for what would be his final interview.

In Hulk Hogan: Real American, the WWE legend — who was 71 when he died — reflected on his storied life, grappling between his two identities as his mega-popular "Hulk Hogan" character and the real person behind it, Terry Bollea. Hogan discusses his handful of controversies (such as lying about his steroid use and being caught using racial slurs in a leaked sex tape) and the demise of his marriage to ex-wife Linda Hogan, with whom he shared daughter Brooke, 37, and son Nick, 35.

Hogan got candid in the four-part Netflix docuseries, out Wednesday, April 22, sharing several confessions about his personal life and career. Here are the 10 biggest bombshells from the WWE legend's final interview.

He struggled privately with his declining physical health in the final year of his life

Hulk Hogan in 'Hulk Hogan: Real American'Credit: Netflix

Hogan's declining physical health is on display throughout Hulk Hogan: Real American. He's first seen in the series working out in his home gym with son Nick, calling his later-in-life workouts "Geritol equipment."

“I feel okay, but it’s a pain in the butt, you know, because I have my son take the tops off water bottles all the time for me because I can’t turn 'em," he said, calling it "kind of embarrassing" after being a figure of strength in his career. "Keeps me humble, keeps me very grateful. In my mind I still think I'm 35 or 40 years old," Hogan told viewers.

In other scenes from his final interview, Hogan can be seen wincing in pain, struggling to walk even while using his cane and telling producers, "Oof, man, it's hard to get up."

Hogan admitted to using a staggering amount of fentanyl every day in 2009

Hulk Hogan in 2009Credit: Paul Kane/Getty

In 2009, after his divorce from Linda left him "broke," Hogan said he was consuming a staggering amount of fentanyl while competing for TNA Wrestling. "My body just had had enough," he said in the interview. “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."

"I went to the pharmacy, he goes, 'You should be dead. We have never seen a human being take this much fentanyl,'" Hogan recalled.

Former wrestling executive Eric Bischoff said in the docuseries that Hogan was being prescribed "fistfuls of pills that could kill a horse" and was "chasing it down with a quart of vodka a day."

He found himself considering suicide after giving Linda "everything" in the divorce

Hulk Hogan and Linda Hogan during VH1 Big in '05 at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

After his 2009 divorce, in which Hogan claimed he gave Linda "everything to get rid of her," he found himself contemplating suicide. In the series, Hogan admitted, “I went home and I started drinking and you know, started eating pills, and I just went down this rabbit hole for a couple days, and the next thing I know I'm sitting in front of my bathroom with a gun in my mouth and not knowing what I was doing."

Bischoff recalled Hogan "hurting" and said he was "in the darkest, most devastating part of his life" at the time.

“I hit rock bottom, I gave Linda 70% of everything because I just didn't wanna ever talk to her again," Hogan explained. "I never wanted to see her again so I gave her everything to get rid of her, and after the divorce I had no money, I was broke and so, TNA [Total Nonstop Action Wrestling] saved me."

He felt Linda's new relationship with a 19-year-old was "thrown in my face big time"

Hulk and Linda Hogan at the 2006 MTV Video Music AwardsCredit: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic

Following their divorce, Linda, now 66, began dating a much-younger man named Charley Hill. The two would eventually become engaged before calling things off in 2012, but Hogan appeared to still harbor some resentment for the way their relationship played out. "It was thrown in my face big time," Hogan said of the relationship.

"She was bouncing around, flying all over with her boyfriend, who actually went to school with Nick and Brooke," he added.

Linda recounted her relationship with Hill, who was 29 years her junior, in the docuseries as well, admitting she wasn't aware of his age when they first started dating. "I asked him how old he was and he said he was 25," she recalled. It wasn't until she asked him out for a beer that he admitted he wasn't even of age to drink. "Now I really have fallen for this guy, and I go, 'How old really are you?' and he goes, 'I'm 19.' "

Linda was living in their beach house after the split from Hogan, who said in the docuseries he had been renting an apartment that overlooked it. "It was tough because I could hear my cigarette boat start up in the morning and Linda's 18-year-old boyfriend would back it out," Hogan said.

"He'd come by me and stop where my apartment was, He'd sit in my boat and smoke a joint," Hogan revealed.

Linda admitted wanting Hogan, who had cheated on her during their marriage with an assistant of their daughter Brooke's, to "know how it feels" and said she purposely wanted her ex-husband to see her "all over Charlie" at the time. “I didn't mean to be such a catty rub-it-in, but I thought a little bit wouldn’t hurt," she said.

He regretted failing to "man up" after audio of him using a racial slur was published

Hulk Hogan in 'Hulk Hogan: Real American'Credit: Netflix

In 2015, audio from eight years earlier of Hogan using racial slurs and other offensive language was released. He was subsequently fired from the WWE and faced additional repercussions in his personal and professional life.

Addressing his use of slurs in the docuseries, Hogan, claiming "there was nowhere to hide" after the audio surfaced, said, “I’m a person that got very mad about a personal situation. I used a word. Yeah, I regret it because even under that heavy crazy fire I should’ve remained still. Kept my mouth shut but what I said resonates and has an echo effect and it keeps vibrating for years."

He added, "I've driven the car I keep hitting the wall, crashing and burning and saying stupid stuff, messing up. Whenever I say I have regrets, it’s because I didn't man up when I said it.”

Former WWE star and current chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque recalled being the "one who had to call" and fire Hogan after the audio was leaked. "Hulk Hogan is one of the biggest legends in the history of this business, that's undeniable," Levesque said, adding, "But I didn't fire Hulk Hogan; I fired Terry Bollea."

He broke down and tried to stop the interview when asked about the overdose death of his brother

Hulk Hogan and his parentsCredit: Courtesy of Netflix

Hogan tried to stop the interview for the docuseries when he was pressed about the overdose death of his brother, Alan, in 1986. "You have to stop, you're digging way too much for me," he pleaded as the cameras rolled during his final interview.

"We weren't that close," Hogan shared of their relationship. "He rode off the reservation early, grew up really fast. By the time he was 7, he was riding with a bunch of bikers. He got in some trouble here in Florida and he ended up in Oakland, California," he recalled, sharing that Alan would "show up" at his fights in California "with 10 Hell's Angels."

Alan had just gotten out of rehab when he and Hogan reconnected, the WWE star shared. Linda recalled Hogan putting "a straight line on" Alan in an attempt to help him stay sober, and Hogan said he "was trying to help him out as much as I could."

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Hogan said Alan was supposed to travel with him after a fight, wanting to keep an eye on his brother, but Alan said he couldn't come and needed money for rent. "So I gave him some money, and I didn't take him with me," Hogan recalled. After his fight, he received a phone call. "They said, 'Your brother overdosed and passed away,' " Hogan said.

"It was a hard one to get over," he continued.

He admitted, "Of course I lied" about steroid use during a 1994 Arsenio Hall appearance

Hulk Hogan in 'Hulk Hogan: Real American'Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Hogan famously denied using steroids on a 1994 episode of The Arsenio Hall Show and later admitted to minimal use during a 1994 federal trial against former WWE CEO Vince McMahon.

In Hulk Hogan: Real American, Hogan admitted, "Of course I lied," to Arsenio Hall. Hogan revealed that he began using steroids two years after high school and said his "mindset back then" was that "steroids were safer than sugar."

"I just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger," Hogan said.

Linda recalled how the legal changes for steroid use affected her husband, comparing him learning to wrestle without the substance as teaching "an old dog new tricks."

Hogan admitted in his final interview that he made "a mistake" in lying on Arsenio Hall, but said he felt he "got the rug pulled out from under" him with the trial and ongoing speculation regarding his steroid use. "I decided to go on Arsenio Hall because he was a friend of mine," he said.

Mocking his appearance on the show during his final interview, Hogan joked, "Of course I lied to him."

He said his comment about understanding why O.J. Simpson murdered his wife was a betrayal by the interviewer

Hulk and Linda HoganCredit: Netflix

In 2009, Hogan said in a Rolling Stone profile that his divorce allowed him to "totally understand" O.J. Simpson's murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, in 1994. "I could have turned everything into a crime scene like O.J., cutting everybody's throat," the original quote read.

Hogan said in his Real American interview that he felt betrayed by the reporter who did the story. “I spent three days with Rolling Stone and I thought the guy was my friend. He warmed up to me, we became buddies, you know," he recounted.

"And all of a sudden we're sitting on my back porch drinking a beer on the beach, and had a little buzz on, and he asked me about O.J. Simpson. I said, 'Wow brother, you know, I've been that jealous and that mad at a girl that I completely understand how he flipped out.' "

Hogan said even though he made those comments, "I would never do that. I would never go there," and added, "I wish I'd never done the interview with Rolling Stone."

Hogan was "bothered" by boos at WWE Raw, his manager said, despite the wrestler's denial

Hulk Hogan at WWE Raw in 2025Credit: Netflix

Hogan returned to the ring in January 2025 at Netflix's WWE Raw in Los Angeles, Calif., where fans "booed him out of the building," wrestler Natalya Neidhart said in the docuseries, after he campaigned for now-President Donald Trump during the 2024 election.

Hogan acknowledged that the "people booed me like crazy," but denied feeling "at all sad" about it in his final interview. "No, man, when I saw how intense they were coming at me; if they had a knife they would've stuck me in the neck with it. So am I upset by that? Are you kidding me?" he said.

"Brother, it's completely opposite of what you think," Hogan continued. "I could come back as a bad guy in L.A. and sell out that building with anybody and as crippled as I am, they'd love to my crippled a-- get scrapped and beat and punched."

But Hogan's former manager, Jimmy Hart said, "I knew it bothered him," in the docuseries. "Do you want to go out being cheered or being booed? Be cheered, of course," said Hart.

He and his wife Sky received death threats after his support for Donald Trump

Donald Trump and Hulk Hogan in 1987Credit: Jeffrey Asher/ Getty

Hogan's widow, Sky Daily Hogan, sat down for Hulk Hogan: Real American, revealing that she and the wrestler received death threats after he showed support for Trump at an RNC rally. "Coming forward for Trump as an entertainer, you divide your audience, and he was nervous about that," she shared, adding, "He wanted to be as authentic and true to himself, not just the Hulk Hogan character, and it wasn't without some backlash."

"We did get some death-threat letters, but you know, for the overall pro-America brand, it was great," Sky said.

Trump sat down for an interview with Netflix for Real American, revealing the wrestling icon asked him to be a part of the project.

"I met Donald Trump back in the day in the '80s and he's my friend," Hogan said. "A lot of people would say I'm completely crazy, but I know the person. I know him very well. I'm not saying I agree with everything he does, but at least he's honest about who he is," he continued.

Hogan called himself "a coward" for voting for Trump in 2016, but refusing to "wear the red hat." He said he intended to vote for him again in 2024, but wanted to "keep a low profile" about his politics. "And then they tried to kill Trump," he said, referring to the 2024 assassination attempt against the president.

"And I was done. I was pissed," Hogan recalled. "I told my wife this might be a deal-breaker but it's something I have to do."

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.

Hulk Hogan: Real American is now streaming on Netflix.

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