Dwayne Johnson talks about a private health crisis that unfolded while he was promoting Jumanji. In a new Esquire cover story, the actor revealed that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year and kept the ordeal to himself and didn’t tell anyone, not even his wife.
If Variety Johnson reportedly revealed that he had a cancer scare earlier this year that coincided with his own Jumanji press duties at CinemaCon. The actor discovered a lump in one of his testicles and went to the doctor the morning before his trip to Las Vegas. So imagine this. He wakes up to discover a worrying lump. He goes to the doctor before going to one of the biggest movie promotion events of the year. And the news he gets back isn’t exactly reassuring.
According to Esquire, the doctor felt the lump and said it was probably epididymitis – an inflammation of a tube at the back of the testicle that stores sperm, but it could also be cancer. The doctor asked what his schedule looked like that day, and Johnson told him about the entire day Jumanji event. The doctor said Johnson should have an ultrasound the next morning.
The man was told there was a real possibility this could be cancer, and then he still had to show up for a full press day, smile for the cameras, do interviews and entertain a room full of people. While you have private access to that information.
“So I had to live with that for those 24 hours, without knowing it, and I had to be busy all day, making jokes, making speeches. But I’m fine,” he said, confirming that he in fact just had epididymitis and not cancer.
The same interview also touched on a few other topics, giving fans a fuller picture of where his head has been this year. Johnson admitted that Oscar was buzzing around his performance The crushing machine was immediately after it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where he notably burst into tears during a standing ovation. Ultimately, he wasn’t nominated for Best Actor earlier this year.
“It would have been incredible to be nominated for an Oscar,” he said. “I quickly realized that reaching this pinnacle is rare. It would have been amazing. I wish it would happen. But it didn’t. But in no uncertain terms, I once thought, ‘Oh, that doesn’t matter.’ I always thought it mattered. And it lit a fire in my spine: let’s get back to work.”
If People reported, the description of the lump itself was striking in itself. Johnson described the discomfort as so great that it was impossible to ignore, even with everything else happening that day.
Fortunately, Johnson is doing well. The growth wasn’t cancer, but the entertainer endured a truly terrifying twenty-four hours as the world watched him laugh. Now he’s using that experience to remind everyone that health checks matter and that sometimes strength seems to show up as he quietly deals with something tough behind the scenes. Take care of yourself here, and please get that thing checked out if you’ve been putting it off.
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