Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson posing for the cameras - File photo Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has opened up about his mother's suicide attempt. The former WWE superstar was just 15 years old at the time, he said in a social media post, where he also shared a behind-the-scene photo from his series Ballers.

Recalling the horrifying incident from about three decades ago, the 45-year-old actor revealed that his mother, Ata Johnson, tried to kill herself by driving her car on to oncoming traffic in Nashville but, his quick thinking helped save both their lives

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"My mom tried to check out when I was 15. She got outta the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic," the actor wrote alongside the photo he shared on Instagram.

Johnson added that he was able to grab his mother and steer the car to the side of the road before anything untoward happened. "Big rigs and cars swerving outta the way not to hit her. I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road," he wrote. "What's crazy about that suicide attempt is to this day, she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Probably best she doesn't."

Dwayne said he opened up about the incident because the filming of the cemetery scene about his character's brother's suicide got him thinking about his mother's suicide attempt that could have killed them both. "Not your typical scene on our comedy #ballers, as I cracked a beer open toasting my character's brother, William, who committed suicide," he said in the post.

"Got me thinkin' though bout how many of us have been affected by suicide of our friends, family. Struggle and pain is real. We've all been there on some level or another."

He also got candid about how difficult it was for him to film the cemetery scene. "Shits of a scene to shoot - didn't like it - but it did remind that we always gotta do our best to really pay attention when people are in pain. Help 'em thru it, get 'em talkin' about the struggle and remind 'em that they're not alone," he said.

Not your typical scene on our comedy #ballers, as I cracked a beer open toasting my character’s brother, William who committed suicide. Got me thinkin’ though bout how many of us have been affected by suicide of our friends, family. Struggle and pain is real. We’ve all been there on some level or another. My mom tried to check out when I was 15. She got outta the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic. Big rigs and cars swerving outta the way not to hit her. I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road. What’s crazy about that suicide attempt is to this day, she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Probably best she doesn’t. Shits of a scene to shoot - didn’t like it - but it did reminder that we always gotta do our best to really pay attention when people are in pain. Help ‘em thru it, get ‘em talkin’ about the struggle and remind ‘em that they’re not alone. We got lucky that day when I was 15 and that ain’t always the case.

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