DNA shows five strangers have same wrestler dad - and The Rock is their half-brother

Five strangers from Canada figured out they were half siblings through Facebook and DNA testing that revealed that their father is Rocky Johnson, meaning their half-brother is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

In a story for Sports Illustrated, the five people, all who spent their lives not knowing their biological father personally, shared their experience growing up watching their father from a distance and eventually finding each other.

Lisa Purves, 53, set out to make a documentary about her life as a child who grew up with an absent parent

"I was really embarrassed that my father didn’t want me,” Purves told Sports Illustrated.

What Purves didn't know is there were four other people with her same shared experience.

Paula Parsons, 58, is Johnson's first child. She recounted that her father knew who she was and called her promising to see her but never did.

"You say: 'What did I do that he doesn’t want anything to do with [me]?'" Parsons said.

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

“For a long time I was burdened by the weight of my own sadness, and I became angry," Adrian Bowles, Johnson's sixth child, said. “That was the fuel. I thought of my father every day of my life. Standing in a mirror, looking into my eyes, having a conversation with myself about why [he left].”

In 2014, Bowles, 52, found Ricky Johnson, Johnson's brother, on Facebook. The two connected but never physically met. Parsons did the same in 2019.

Then in 2017, Johnson's fourth child, Trevor Edwards, 55, used Facebook to find Johnson's brother Ricky Johnson and met with him. After conducting a DNA test, the two confirmed they were uncle and nephew. Edwards met Bowles thanks to Ricky and the three remained in contact.

In 2018, Purves reached out to Ricky too and got to meet three of her four half-siblings.

Then in 2020, Aaron Fowler, Johnson's seventh child, took a DNA test from Ancestry.com, having never known his biological father, and found Bowles and Purves were his half-siblings.

Since then, the group has taken DNA tests to confirm they are half-siblings and remain in contact with each other. Purves is still working on her documentary in the hopes to help other people heal from the pain and shame of having an absent parent.

It is unclear if The Rock knows about his five half-siblings, but each told Sports Illustrated their goal is not to get noticed by their famous half brother.

“They deserve to be loved, like any other child does,” says Ricky. “Whether they’re rich and famous or not.”

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.