Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson looks to his daughters for a game plan.
The Smashing Machine star admitted that he has been the one learning from daughters Simone, 24—whom he shares with ex Dany Garcia—as well as his and wife Lauren Hashian’s Jasmine, 9 and Tiana, 6, in more ways than one.
“They taught me to be selfless,” Johnson admitted in an interview with E! News’ Francesca Amiker at the Los Angeles premiere of the Benny Safdie film. “I grew up an only child and when you’re an only child, like me, I can’t speak for all only children out there, you think about yourself first.”
As he put it, “That was me for a long time until I had my girls.”
And while that level of selflessness comes with having kids, the 53-year-old admitted he has gleaned even more from being a girl dad.
“The joy of walking through life with this curiosity,” he continued. “There’s this great saying I heard some time ago that goes, ‘Every man wants a son, but needs a daughter.’ And I have three, and there is nothing like that bond between a father and his daughter. I feel that deeply with my girls.”
In working on The Smashing Machine, Johnson was not only able to channel his daughters’ strength in his role as Mark Kerr, but also reconnect with costar Emily Blunt, with whom he starred in Jungle Cruise. It also marked an opportunity for Johnson’s younger daughters to become fast friends with Blunt and John Krasinski’s kids Hazel, 9, and Violet, 7.
“When they play,” Emily gushed to E! News earlier this month, “they are the cutest together.”
And though since wrapping the film it has been “harder” to connect for playdates, Blunt assured her costar in the joint interview, “I want to bring them out next to you for sure.”
As for Johnson, he found reteaming with Blunt—who plays his character’s wife Dawn Kerr—one of the most rewarding acting experiences he’s ever had.
“It was the most gratifying experience I've ever had in my life and in my career,” he told E! News earlier this month, though noting his daughters still take the cake, adding, “separate from, of course, my babies being born, being a dad.”
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