Brooke Hogan recently got candid about her broken relationship with her family, while hinting at the reason for her rift with her mother, Linda Hogan.
She noted in a new interview that she had proof of her mother being “vile,” adding that she would have preferred it if Linda were more publicly “honest” about how “tumultuous” things are between them.
Brooke Hogan also spoke up about her relationship with her late father and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, explaining how his affair with one of her friends changed their relationship forever.
Brooke Hogan Calls Out Mom For Seemingly Acting Ignorant About The Reason For Their Fractured Relationship
In a new interview with Us Weekly, Brooke gave a candid response after being told that her mom is “hurt” and “confused” by her estrangement.
She said, “The wounded fawn. I have one of the most vile text messages I’ve ever seen from a human being that she sent my husband, to the point where I’d be embarrassed for her if I actually got to where I had to release it to correct this narrative.”
Brooke then added, “I don’t want to get into the mud with the pigs. If my mom was honest about how tumultuous our relationship was, if anything, I’d be like, ‘Wow! My mom’s a stand-up person.’”
Asked about the current state of her relationship with her family and if she missed the family dynamic they once had, she stressed that she misses “individual people” and also “desperately” misses her dad.
“Those are two completely different things,” she continued. “When I think about the family unit itself, I remember endless tension. Scrutiny. Arguments. Pressure to perform. It was walking on eggshells.”
“I’m not going to rewrite my childhood and pretend every second was horrible. What I miss is what I always hoped our family could eventually become, not what the dynamic actually was,” Brooke concluded.
Brooke Hogan Said Her Father’s Affair With Her Friend Changed Their Relationship
During her chat with Us Weekly, Brooke also shared that her father’s affair with her friend Christiane Plante marked a major turning point in their relationship.
“A major turning point came after he slept with my friend Christiane,” she told the outlet.
Brooke explained that although she forgave her father, the relationship between her and her Hulk was never the same again.
“I forgave him, but something between us changed afterward. I don’t think he ever related to me in quite the same way again,” she said.
The affair was confirmed by Plante herself in 2008 when she gave the National Enquirer details about the affair and how it affected her relationship with Brooke.
According to Today, Plante claimed that the affair began when Hulk and ex-wife Linda “privately knew their marriage was ending.”
Linda reportedly had already left Hulk, “although no official papers had been filed.” Plante also expressed remorse about the affair as it negatively impacted her friendship with Brooke.
The Hogans’ Complicated Family Dynamic
Brooke pushed back against simplified narratives people use to talk about her family. In her recent interview, she described her family as one that contained both deep love and deep hurt at the same time.
“There was also dysfunction, fear, resentment, enormous betrayal, money, fame, image management and decades of unresolved hurt all existing underneath the same roof,” the 38-year-old claimed.
She explained that she could hold profound love for her father and still be candid about the way he caused her harm and acknowledged that her family gave her “wonderful things” while also encouraging a dynamic she could no longer live with.
Brooke Hogan Recalls Conversation With Her Father That ‘Hurt’ Her
The rift between father and daughter was the result of several events leading to a breakdown in a relationship she once felt “incredibly safe” in. By the time of Hulk’s passing, Brooke hadn’t spoken to her father for two years.
In another report by Us, she revealed a conversation that described their estrangement. “He said, ‘You go this way, I go that way,’” Brooke recalled, adding that, “That hurt.”
Brooke said she could see the influence of the people around the wrestling icon, and she felt “powerless” to intervene in the months leading up to his heart attack.
“You feel so powerless,” she told the news outlet and added that “It’s such a tangled web, too. It’s dangerous talking about criticizing certain people.”
She continued, “You just kind of have to shut up and let people make their own decisions because it was becoming too gnarly.”
Brooke did not show up for her father’s funeral, but she said she was glad, “he’s out of pain.”
Brooke Hogan Says Her Relationship With Her Dad Survived ‘Public Scandals’
Despite everything that has transpired between father and daughter, Brooke does not erase the “wonderful memories” she had with Hulk.
According to Brooke, “People sometimes assume that because our relationship became complicated later, I must be rewriting everything that came before it. I’m not.”
She said that the foundation of their relationship was “incredibly strong,” noting that it survived “public scandals,” her parents’ divorce, as well as estrangement because, “underneath all of it there was a bond that was very real.”
