Hulk Hogan discussed his history of substance abuse in an episode of the documentary series about his career, released on Netflix last Wednesday (22).
In the fourth episode of Hulk Hogan: Real American, the former wrestler revealed that he was heavily using fentanyl while trying to return to the wrestling world in 2009, shortly after divorcing his ex-wife, Linda Hogan.
In order to compete and fulfill his contractual obligations with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), the second-largest wrestling entertainment company after WWE, Hulk was “taking 80 milligrams of fentanyl, two in the morning, placing them under my gums.”
Hulk claimed that a pharmacist was shocked that he was still alive, considering the amount of pills he was taking. “I had two 300 mg fentanyl patches on my legs and they gave me six 1500 mg fentanyl lollipops to use. I went to the pharmacy, and he said: ‘You should be dead. We’ve never seen a human take that much fentanyl.’”
The former wrestler also revealed why he decided to return to the ring at age 56. He explained that he had “hit rock bottom” after giving Linda “70%” of his total assets in their divorce. “I gave her everything to get rid of her,” he said, admitting that the painful separation left him “broke.”
In the documentary, former wrestling executive Eric Bischoff said that he was the one who arranged a deal for Hulk to perform in TNA. “Hulk was reluctant to go, but he needed the money,” Bischoff explained.
“Your wife is divorcing you, your doctors are giving you handfuls of pills that would kill a horse, and you’re chasing it with a liter of vodka a day,” he added.
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