Dwayne Johnson revealed on Trevor Noah’s new Spotify podcast “What Now?” (via Insider) that several political parties approached him in 2022 to ask if he would run for president. The actor had floated the idea in past interviews, although he said in October 2022 that his responsibilities as a father would prevent him from actually running for office.
During their conversation, former “Daily Show” host Noah brought up a 2021 political poll that claimed 46% of U.S. adults would support Johnson’s campaign for president.
“That was an interesting poll that happened and I was really moved by that,” Johnson said. “I was really blown away and I was really honored. I’ll share this little bit with you: at the end of the year in 2022, I got a visit from the parties asking me if I was going to run, and if I could run.”
“It was a big deal, and it came out of the blue,” Johnson continued. “It was one after the other, and they brought up that poll, and they also brought up their own deep-dive research that would prove that should I ever go down that road [I’d be a real contender]. It was all very surreal because that’s never been my goal. My goal has never been to be in politics. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot about politics that I hate.”
Johnson first floated the idea of running for president in back in 2017, when he exclusively told Variety that it was a “realistic consideration” for 2024. In an interview last year on “CBS Mornings,” he said a presidential run was “off the table” because “I love being a daddy and that’s the most important thing to me is being a daddy, number one, especially during this time, this critical time in my daughters’ lives.”
“With my 22-year-old daughter, Simone, we like to say that we grew up together,” Johnson now told Noah. “I know what it’s like to be in an occupation that took me away. As a pro wrestler full-time, I was wrestling 230 dates a year for years as she came into the world. So I know what it’s like to have that separation and not be there for the birthdays, for the pickups, the drop-offs, and everything else. And I don’t want that for my little ones now.”
“That was one of my primary discussions with the parties, who were ultimately like, ‘Yeah, but the other ones have done it like this,’” added Johnson.
Johnson most recently popped up at the end of “Fast X,” which opened in theaters in May. His next big movie is Prime Video’s Christmas tentpole “Red One,” in which he stars opposite Chris Evans.