With a net worth nearing the $1 billion mark, it is clear that Dwayne Johnson has achieved a major amount of success. However, as we’re going to reveal in the following, that journey to the top of Hollywood featured several pitfalls, especially at the start.

Despite his fame in sports entertainment, Dwayne quickly learned that Hollywood was a different kind of beast to conquer. At the start, DJ was basically told to change his entire personality and what he loved in order to conform with Hollywood. Not only that, but as we’ll reveal in the following, DJ was laughed at for his vision with his former agency. Thankfully, the lack of support didn’t hurt Johnson’s confidence, and he was able to conquer Hollywood, while his ‘laughable vision’ wasn’t so funny after all.

Dwayne Johnson Fired His Team After It Was Evident They Didn’t Share The Same Vision

He left the world of sports entertainment on the highest of highs. However, the transition to Hollywood was not a smooth one, at least at the start. Dwayne Johnson was told that he had to conform with Hollywood based on the advice from his former team. That meant going away from all the things he loved, like not hitting the gym, and not speaking about his past with WWE.

Despite making these changes, his career was suffering, and he was taking on roles that didn’t necessarily match his vision of being a major movie star. It took a lot of courage, but DJ made the decision to fire his team, and listen to his own instincts.

“I felt really constrained. And like I had the chains on me. And people telling me, ‘Well you can do it like this, you have to do it like that.’ For example, when I first got to Hollywood, many moons ago I was told — out of the world of pro wrestling — I was told, ‘Well, if you wanna make it if you want to be a star’ — the biggest stars at that time were George Clooney and Johnny Depp and Will Smith. I was told then, ‘You can’t call yourself The Rock. Don’t talk about pro wrestling. You gotta lose weight, go on a diet, you’re too big, don’t go to the gym as much.”

Credit to Dwayne who took the approach that if he failed, at least he failed being himself. Clearly, that was not the case as Johnson’s career soared, with the actor becoming a major movie star as he always envisioned.

Dwayne Johnson Told His Former Agency He Wanted To Be Bigger Than Will Smith, And Was Basically Laughed At

Dwayne Johnson made this major reveal during his epic motivational speech alongside the LA Lakers. In the speech, DJ spoke about the many pitfalls throughout his journey to the top, which included his rough start in Hollywood. Dwayne admitted to feeling conflicted about leaving wrestling, only to have a suffering acting career.

Dwayne explained a certain instance in where he described to his agency what he wanted his career to resemble. DJ claims he was basically looked at as if he had ‘three heads’.

DJ said, “Will Smith is my boy but at that time I sat down with the agency that I was with, and they said what do you want to accomplish? I said, I want to accomplish the world, I want the world and I want Will Smith’s career, but I want to do it bigger and better. And they looked at me like I had three heads. And they were like, Umm, yea, okay.”

The moment can be seen in the video below at the 20:10 mark.

Despite the tough reception from his agency, DJ continued to work hard and didn’t stray away from his vision. Obviously, the work was all worth it given the way his career would play out in the 2010s, and continues to soar in the 2020s.

What Did Dwayne Johnson Think About Will Smith’s Oscar Slap?

Johnson did admit that he is friends with Will Smith, however, fans are wondering if things changed following Will’s Oscar slap. Both Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson were asked about the moment, and it seems like they deflected from the question a little but, likely out of respect for Smith.

DJ said alongside Good Morning Britain, “When that happened I was in Hawaii. And then my phone started blowing up. And I didn’t believe it when my phone was blowing up and the first person I called was Kevin. I was like, man, let’s talk about this.”

Kevin Hart continued, “I don’t think there’s a reaction. I think it’s the same as anybody else. You know it’s a shocking moment. One is unfortunate, it’s something I’m glad that is now behind, just our, I know both parties, so I’m glad that it’s over and I’m glad that the conversation is dying right.”

Clearly, none of the actors were willing to bash on Smith.