Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Hid Cancer Scare From Wife Lauren After Finding 'Really Painful' Lump

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recently endured a cancer scare — but he kept it a secret from wife Lauren Hashian until he was in the clear.

In a new interview, the actor recalled feeling a lump in his t------- while showering that was painful to the touch. After an examination, his doctor said it was most likely epididymitis, a type of inflammation, but he wanted Johnson to schedule an ultrasound immediately as there was a possibility it was cancer.

"So I had to live with that for those 24 hours, not knowing — and I had to be on all day, joking around, making speeches," he revealed to Esquire of having a Jumanji press day at the time.

He assured fans he's "fine, but I didn’t know that then, and the thing was really painful."

The WWE alum admitted he didn't tell his spouse because "I didn’t want to worry her before I knew if it was anything to even worry about."

Johnson's candidness led the interviewer to ask, "Is it a lot of work to control what the world sees of you? When you go into public Dwayne mode, can you be as real as maybe you want to be all the time?"

"I love the question because I’ve reached this point in my life where I feel like I’ve worked hard to just be at peace," the Moana star replied.

"As dudes, as young men, teenagers, 20s, we’re trying to find ourselves," Johnson continued. "Then, in the 30s, that teenage bravado and confidence begins to wane because you’re like, 'Oh s---, I got to figure stuff out.' You hit your 40s and you’re trying to figure who you are. Feels like you got your job locked down. Hopefully you got your family. But wait: Who am I? What’s my why?"

"By the time I hit my fifth level — I'm 53 — I was working hard just to find what peace meant," he explained. "Things in my world have become less presentational, less broadcast-y, more ‘I’m going to put in the work, and I’ll keep it as quiet as I can.’"

The father-of-three noted he doesn't let any setbacks stop him from pursuing his dreams.

"It would have been incredible to get nominated for an Oscar," he said of the buzz for his performance in The Smashing Machine. "I realized very quickly that it’s a rare thing to reach this pinnacle where you’re even having these conversations. And it’s exciting! It would have been amazing. I wish it happened. But it didn’t. But in no uncertain terms did I ever think, 'Oh, that doesn’t matter.' I always thought it mattered. And it has lit a fire in my spine — which is: Let’s go back to work."