Many of us have a good idea of who's in our family tree, but it's only through DNA testing that we can really, truly know who we're related to.
Thanks to the magic of DNA testing, five total strangers have found out that they're related to someone famous — someone who we all probably wish we were related to: The Rock himself.
That's right, Dwayne Johnson — the People's Champion — has five previously unknown half-brothers.
Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born in 1972 to Ata Johnson (born Ata Maivia) and Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles). Rocky Johnson was a well-known professional wrestler in his own right, but it's on The Rock's mom's side of the family where you'll find a ton of famous figures from the pro wrestling world.
Ata Johnson (Maivia) is a member of the Anoa'i family, which originated from American Samoa. This means that The Rock is related to more pro wrestlers than you can count, including the late Rodney Anoa'i (who wrestled in the '90s as Yokozuna), Solofa Fatu Jr. (Rikishi) and Leati Joseph "Joe Anoa'i (who's best known as Roman Reigns).
It was already known that Rocky Johnson had two children (Curtis and Wanda) with his first wife, Una Sparks. Dwayne Johnson was born to Rocky Johnson's second wife, Ata. In addition to these relationships, Rocky Johnson was also known for his infidelity.
According to Sports Illustrated, DNA testing has confirmed that five strangers — Lisa Purves, Paula Parsons, Trevor Edwards, Adrian Bowles and Adrian Fowler — were fathered by Rocky Johnson, which would make them half-siblings with The Rock.
Lisa Purves is a filmmaker and was the first of the quintet to find out that Rocky Johnson was her father. None of the other four were able to form a relationship with their father, who died in early 2020.
While the half-siblings understandably have some complicated feelings toward their father, they've made it clear that they harbor no such resentment towards Dwayne Johnson. After all, he had no idea that any of this was going on.
"Dwayne doesn't owe us anything," said Lisa.
"We just want to be recognized," Paula said. "We sat on the back burner forever. [Rocky] was our dad, just as well as Dwayne's.
It doesn't look like the five are looking for a relationship with The Rock, who has yet to comment on the news. Lisa Purves intends to make a film about parents and estranged children.
Maybe! Considering Rocky Johnson's extramarital affairs and the publicity generated by the Sports Illustrated piece along with Purves' upcoming documentary, it is entirely possible that The Rock could have more half-siblings out there.
It's likely that Dwayne Johnson will comment on this story at some point, either via social media or a movie press tour, so we'll be sure to provide updates as they become available. Let us know what you think of this story in the comments!
h/t: Sports Illustrated
