Dwayne Johnson Remembers When His Family Couldn’t Afford Thanksgiving Dinner

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson may be one of the biggest names in Hollywood, but he won’t let us forget his humble beginnings.

The actor and former wrestler shared on Instagram how grateful he was to have a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, remembering how he’d spent the holiday as a child.

“As my mom pointed out earlier in the day, there was a time back in ’87 when we couldn’t even afford Thanksgiving dinner and was praying someone would invite us over their house to eat,” Johnson captioned his family photo. “We were in a tough spot back then, but we got thru it.”

After we bowed our heads in prayer, we went around the table and everyone shared what they were thankful for. Beautiful seeing and listening to everyone speak from their heart. Tears, laughter and boundless gratitude. Personally, I’m a little surprised no one expressed how thankful they were that THE Sexiest Man Alive (I refuse to relinquish my title to Blake Shelton or any man) was sitting at the table. I didn’t want to be a dick and interrupt the prayer, but at some point someones gotta address the elephant in the room. Jokes aside, it was a very special Thanksgiving. As my mom pointed out earlier in the day, there was a time back in ‘87 when we couldn’t even afford Thanksgiving dinner and was praying someone would invite us over their house to eat. We were in a tough spot back then, but we got thru it. And here we are today. One big, extended, blended, slightly crazy, loving, grateful ohana. #sib ❤️🥁💫

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Nov 24, 2017 at 11:50am PST

Johnson has been blunt about his family’s financial struggles before.

He said earlier this year that growing up poor helped drive his success in Hollywood. He said he shared his recollections of nearly getting evicted when he was 14 years old with his castmates to push them to work.

“I know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck and wonder how you’re going to pay the rent,” Johnson said. “I know what it’s like to be evicted. Money doesn’t fall out of the sky. So if you’re going to pay for your ticket, that inspires me to want to make a great movie.”

The actor said his family gathered around this year to speak from their hearts with “tears, laughter and boundless gratitude.”