'I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you,' the actor shared on Instagram.
Dwayne "The Rock"Johnson is paying tribute to his beloved father, Rocky Johnson.
The 47-year-old actor took to Instagram on Friday to share a heartwarming message about his legendary wrestler dad, who died on Wednesday at the age of 75.
"I love you. You broke color barriers, became a ring legend and trail blazed your way thru this world. I was the boy sitting in the seats, watching and adoring you, my hero from afar," The Rock shared. "The boy you raised to always be proud of our cultures and proud of who and what I am. The boy you raised with the toughest of love. The intense work. The hard hand. The adoring boy who wanted to know only your best qualities. Who then grew to become a man realizing you had other deep complex sides that needed to be held and understood."
"Son to father. Man to man. That’s when my adoration turned to respect. And my empathy turned to gratitude," he added. "Grateful that you gave me life. Grateful you gave me life's invaluable lessons. Dad, I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you, before you crossed over to the other side. But you were ripped away from me so fast without warning. Gone in an instant and no coming back."
The Rock continued on, telling fans he's in pain, but "it's just pain and it'll pass."
"Now I'll carry your mana and work ethic with me, as it's time to move on because I have my family to feed and work to accomplish. Finally, I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman," he wrote. "Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease. You lived a very full, very hard, barrier breaking life and left it all in the ring."
"I love you dad and I'lll always be your proud and grateful son," The Rock concluded. "Go rest high. #ripsoulman ?."
Rocky -- who was known as the "Soul Man" and was born Wade Douglas Bowles -- began his wrestling career at the age of 16, and made a name for himself as part of the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1960s. His big breakthrough came, however, after joining the WWE in the early '80s, where he then teamed up with Tony Atlas to form the iconic wrestling tag team The Soul Patrol. The pair went on to become the first African-American Tag Team champs in '83.
RELATED CONTENT:
