Dwayne Johnson Recalls The Moment He Learned of Kevin Hart's Crash: 'My Heart Stopped'

He was severely injured when his friend, Jared Black, lost control of Kevin's vintage 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. They, alongside trainer Rebecca Broxterman, were not wearing seatbelts at the time.

He initially walked away from the crash and back home, but was later hospitalized.

His injuries, alongside Jared's, were so severe that they required back surgery.

He's been on a media hiatus since then. The Jumanji press tour is the first time he's given interviews post-accident.

"This movie is such an embodiment of love, family, getting older. And I'm curious, after what happened with you recently, how has your life perspective changed?" Asked Kevin McCarthy, who the Rock and Kevin Hart both wound up praising later in the interview.

"Like, have priorities changed for you at all? Like in, the sense that — do you wanna do less work, and more family? How has that divide happened for you?"

"It's unreal that you would ask that. The answer is so spot on what you're saying. It's not about not working the same or not having the same level of hustle or energy within my profession, but being present to the ones around you that matter most."

"It's more of a priority now. The level of appreciation for life is extremely high, because you do kinda take it for granted, you know?"

"You do bypass the fact that things don't have to be the way they are, that they could change like that."

You can tell Kevin really appreciated the thoughtfulness of the question.

"So when you have experience that shows you that, you understand what that is and what it was, and you make sure that you make the matters — that being present matters most. Does that make sense? For me, that's the new version of myself that I'm happy about."

He wanted to know how it felt to see Kevin speak so differently about life and family.

"His situation could’ve gone another way. He knows that, we know that," he began.

"When I heard the news, my heart stopped and I lost my breath."

Kevin McCarthy said he had the exact same reaction as the Rock. They both care so much, you know?

"Kevin’s one of the good ones, he’s a good egg. So I’m really proud of not only his ability to overcome, but we’re here, we’re in Cabo, we made Jumanji."

"The beauty of our relationship is, we hugged, we had a real strong conversation when he finally came back, face to face, about what this meant and how it had changed him."

"It’s almost as if life and the universe takes this shade and lifts it from your eyes and you view the world a different way. It’s really beautiful."

"To hear him talk like that, it's like, 'Man, you are so...same guy, but a different guy now. You're empowered with a different kind of spirit. And then 20 minutes later, we're giving each other [expletive].

Case in point: Kevin Hart's halloween costume.

There's a really nice part at the end where both the Rock and Kevin Hart praise how deeply McCarthy cares not only about them, but of the art of film. It's amazing!