Dwayne 'The Rock’ Johnson Recalls Being Told He Was 'Too Big' to Make It in Hollywood and to Lose Weight: 'Maybe Go on a Diet'

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson revealed that he was encouraged to "lose weight" when he first sought acting jobs in Hollywood.

Johnson got candid with podcast host Drew Afualo on the July 1 episode of her show "The Comment Section."

The actor and former pro-wrestler recalled trying to make it in Hollywood following his successful career with the WWE.

"They said, ‘What do you want to do?’ my inner team at that time," he recalled, "I said, ‘I want to make it. I want to make it as an actor. I want to have longevity and I want to have a career.’"

The advice he received was not exactly a warm reception into Hollywood; instead, the muscular 6'5" athlete was encouraged to slim down.

"I was told, ‘Okay, here's the thing. Stop going to the gym. Stop calling yourself The Rock. Stop talking about wrestling. You look how you look, nobody looks like you,'" Johnson recalled.

"'The biggest stars in the world at that time, George Clooney, Will Smith, Johnny Depp. You don't look anything like them. You're too big, maybe go on a diet,'" he was told.

Johnson explained that he didn't have anyone supporting him and encouraging him to stay exactly how he was, so as a young actor, he assumed his only choice was to buy into the advice.

"I didn't have anybody like that. And I bought into that. And I lost weight," he explained.

"I wish I had somebody back then to tell me, ‘No, no, no. You are who you are. You came from this world of wrestling. It doesn't matter if nobody likes it or understands it. And your size is your size. Go to the gym, do the things you love, eat the food you love,’" he added.

Johnson has gone on to have a wildly successful career after pivoting into the acting world in the early 2000s while he was in his late 20s.

He has starred in blockbuster hits including Moana, Jumanji, Fast & Furious and Black Adam.

Johnson spoke with Afualo, who is also Samoan, about reprising his role as Maui in the new live-action Moana film, and noted how proud he feels to have successfully pivoted to the big screen as a native Hawaiian.

"I wasn't seeing myself on screen [as a kid]," Johnson remembered. "But, now years later, there we are in this big way and our film starts off in our village."

"It made me feel so proud that I could, in this way, represent our culture, and put us up there on the big screen," he added.

The live-action Moana stars Johnson and newcomer Catherine Laga'aia. It hits theaters on July 10.