Despite efforts to draft him into the presidential elections in 2020, actor, entrepreneur, and former pro wrestler Dwayne Johnson says he opted instead to focus on his family.
“A few years ago, things got very serious and I was having meetings behind closed doors, that weren’t even necessarily encouraged by me, but they came to me,” he said in an on-air interview on CNBC on Thursday. “I really had to consider and take my time. Then I realized, in having these conversations…that the most important thing to me is being a father to my little one.”
Johnson has two young daughters, aged 7 and 5, with his wife. He’s also the father of a 21-year-old from a previous marriage and says the lessons learned from his first child make him want to be at home more for his younger children.
“I always say we grew up together,” he said of his oldest child. “I was always away working and didn’t want to be in a position where I would be pulled away from my little ones now.”
Johnson’s comments follow a 2022 interview with CBS Sunday Morning, where he said he would not run in the 2024 election. Afterward, on Instagram, he added: “I’ve been approached by the most influential in politics on both sides of the aisle asking and supporting that I run for President. It’s a humbling, grateful and inspiring feeling to even have these conversations, as I’m not a politician nor have I ever aspired to be one.”
Not running now doesn’t mean he has completely ruled it out, however. Johnson called for a change in leadership following the death of George Floyd and endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 elections, but has referred to himself as a “political independent” and a “centrist.”