Brooke Hogan is setting the record straight on why she has not attended any WWE tributes for her late father, Hulk Hogan. The WWE icon died last week at the age of 71 from a heart attack, according to multiple sources.
The Brooke Knows Best star shared a post on her Instagram Story, writing, “For those of you giving me crap for not attending my Dad’s tributes, @wwe did not extend an invite.”
The WWE has yet to respond to Brooke's message.
The post follows Brooke breaking her silence on her father's death after their estranged relationship over the past two years. She shared in their last conversation in 2023 she shared that it was not one “fight” that stopped them from speaking with one another.
“When he left this earth, it felt like part of my spirit left with him. I felt it before the news even reached us,” Brooke wrote. “… I know he’s at peace now, out of pain, and in a place as beautiful as he imagined. He used to speak about this moment with such wonder and hope. Like meeting God was the greatest championship he’d ever have.”
“It was a series of private phone calls no one will ever hear, know, or understand,” she added. “My father was confiding in me about issues weighing on his heart, both personal and business. I offered to be a life raft in whatever capacity he needed. I told him he had my support. I begged him to rest, to take care of himself.”
Brooke, who is now the mother of twins she shares with her husband, former NHL player Steven Oleksy, shared that she supported him through his declining health. Throughout Hulk's 35 year career in the WWE, he had 25 surgeries. He told boxer Jake Paul of this last year.
“I’ve had like 25 surgeries in the last 10 years,” he told Jake Paul on the IMPAULSIVE podcast in September 2024. “I’ve had 10 back surgeries, both knees and both hips replaced, shoulders—everything.”
In addition to his 25 surgeries for WWE injuries he was diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia, a form of blood cancer, that he battled privately. Brooke spoke how she was able to support him throughout the surgeries until he no longer wanted her there.
“We had been through almost 25 surgeries together, and then all of a sudden he didn’t want me at surgeries…everything started getting covered in a thick veil. It was like there was a force field around him that I couldn’t get through,” she continued.
Hulk Hogan honored at WWE Monday Night RAW and WWE NXT
It came to a point for Brooke that she had decided to stop disagreeing with her father and create space in their relationship.
“He was telling me these things, being so vulnerable with me and heard my pleas, then suddenly something shifted, and he made a choice to walk the path that clearly tore at his spirit,” she added. “I felt a disconnect. What followed were respectful disagreements that took an emotional toll on me.”
In the end, she did what was best for her emotionally and that she still loved her father despite everything.
“I know in my heart I did everything I could,” Brooke concluded. “He knew I would run through a burning building for him. And in many ways, along the path of life, I did. He knows how deeply, how hard and how purely I loved him. I am at peace knowing this.”
So far, WWE honored the late wrestling icon at WWE’s Monday Night RAW earlier this week and WWE NXT on Tuesday (July 29). Despite Brooke's absence, her brother, Nick, was at the WWE Monday Night RAW event in honor of their late father.
