On June 1, 2007, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and his then wife of ten years, Dany Garcia announced that they were separating amicably. The two had met at the University of Miami in the early '90s. Johnson went to UM thanks via a football scholarship to the institute, where Garcia was pursuing an undergraduate degree in Business Administration.
The two shared common interests, in sports, business and showbiz. After dating for a few years, they got married in May 1997. They had one child together - a daughter who they named Simone - in August 2001. About six years later, they realized that the nature of their relationship was evolving and they decided to terminate their romantic involvement.
Johnson and Garcia's divorce was finalized in May 2008. They have, however, since maintained a very good friendship. In fact, The Rock's business affairs are still managed by his ex-wife to date.
Updated on January 4th, 2023 by Abigail Thomas: Though Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia have not been together since 2008, they still have major roles in each other's lives. Despite going through a divorce, Johnson and Garcia remained business partners. They have found great success together and even bought the XFL together in 2020. Garcia is the Global Strategist Advisor for all of Johnson's business ventures, as well as managing other celebrities such as Henry Cavill. Johnson and Garcia remain great friends today, redefining what divorce can mean for a relationship and a family.
The Rock And Ex-Wife Dany Garcia Work Together
Garcia is an entrepreneur, body builder and film producer. Her companies' website characterizes her as a 'visionary architect behind some of today's most successful enterprises, brands and talent.' It also describes her 'passion for bettering the world through socially responsible decisions' as 'consistently reflected in the culture of her teams and the businesses she builds.'
Not only is Garcia Dwayne Johnson's manager, but they also have various investments together. In August last year, for example, they joined hands to buy the XFL football league, which had previously plunged into bankruptcy. They also co-own the production company Seven Bucks, which is partly responsible for some of Johnson's biggest film blockbusters of the last five years or so. The name Seven Bucks was derived from a low point of Johnson's career, when he only had $7 to his name.
Dwayne Johnson Wanted To Stay Friends With Ex-Wife
If all this sounds strange and complicated, it is because Garcia and Johnson's divorce had nothing to do with any bad blood between them. It is a process that they both have been very open to speaking about over the years. The Rock first publicly addressed it in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in her 2020 Vision Tour.
"It was just one of those things where it wasn't an ugly divorce. It was just... marriage wasn't in our cards," he said. "Great friends. Marriage wasn't in our cards, but we both had an appetite for business and to accomplish things. And we thought, well, what if we continued to do business together?"
He also reiterated the same on a separate interview - with Piers Morgan while the British journalist was working at CNN. Asked how he had managed to remain such good friends and partners with his ex-wife, Johnson responded: "We realized that we weren't meeting the expectation of [our] marriage... And I was very fortunate that I had [Dany] who had the wherewithal to say, 'OK, we're gonna go through this and it's terrible, but somewhere on the other side of this, we're going to become better.'"
Does Dany Garcia Regret Divorcing Dwayne Johnson?
Garcia's perspective was exactly the same, going by her own public admission. She spoke to Marie Claire in 2017 and intimated that their evolution from lovers to friends and business partners was a deliberate, everyday journey. Divorcing Dwayne Johnson was the best thing she could do for their relationship.
"Some people go through separation and there's no conversation, and it's a dark time, and one person goes off, but that was never us. We went on this journey together," she explained. "We were going to change the manner of the relationship together. We spoke every day, and multiple times a day—not only on business, but on what was happening personally."
One of the things they were very conscious of was the fact that as they drifted away from each other and fell in love with other people, there was the potential for extreme emotional experiences. As with every other aspect of their separation, they handled that through honesty and open communication.
"We gave ourselves room to know that there may be emotional freak-outs as new people come into our lives," Garcia said. "We were like, 'Okay, we're human, so we're going to work through that.'" And work through it they did, as is now evidenced by the beautiful connection that they continue to share to date.
Dany Garcia Married Ex-Husband Dwayne Johnson's Personal Trainer
Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia enjoy this kind of close working relationship, despite the fact that both have individually moved on in their personal love lives. Johnson is currently married to Lauren Hashian, with whom he has two daughters: Jasmine, 5, and Tiana, 3.
Garcia remarried in 2014, to fitness trainer and her fellow bodybuilder, Dave Rienzi. If fans still question how close Garcia and Johnson remain, Rienzi is actually a very close friend of Johnson. Rienzi is also Johnson's personal trainer and has been for nearly a decade. Johnson and Garcia will always be in each other's lives, and their friendship and business relationship only continues to strengthen.