Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson shares father's cause of death: 'He went quick'

Rasha Ali | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Wrestler Rocky Johnson, father of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, dies Rocky Johnson, WWE legend and father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was the first black tag team champion in WWE history with partner Tony Atlas.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson revealed his father's cause of death in a nearly eight-minute-long video shared to Instagram on Sunday.

Johnson started the video by thanking his followers for their support and outpouring of love following the death of his dad, former wrestler Rocky Johnson.

"A lot of you guys wanted to know what happened to my dad. He had not been feeling well, had been battling a cold and infection and on Tuesday he had what’s called a deep vein thrombosis, which is essentially a blood clot in the leg," the "Jumanji" star said. "It was a big old blood clot that broke free, traveled up his body, and went right to his lung and clotted his lung and he died very quickly from a massive heart attack, just like that."

Rocky Johnson was 75. He's best known for becoming the first black tag team champion in WWE history with partner Tony Atlas as The Soul Patrol in 1983.

"My question was 'Was he in pain? Did he go quick? Was it drawn out?'" Johnson said. "He (the medical examiner) said he went fast. He went quick. That's my old man, he was always quick."

He added: "That did give me great comfort in knowing that it wasn’t prolonged and the reason why it gave me great comfort, even though I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my old man that one last time, is that he had been in a lot of pain for a very, very long time and that's the life of a pro wrestler especially at that age."

Johnson encouraged his followers to speak to their loved ones.

"Text them. Call them. Go see them, if they're close by and if you can hug them, I want you to hug them," Johnson said. "You tell them that these are the marching orders from Dwayne Johnson who just lost his old man. But you hug them and you hug them hard."

He added: "That's what I'm doing with my family and my friends and the ones I love, I'm hugging them hard. You never know what's around the corner, we just never know. Here today, gone tomorrow."

The "Hobbs & Shaw" actor went on to share that he was about to "crush this leg workout" in honor of his dad who taught him how to workout.

On Friday, The Rock took to Instagram to share his lengthy tribute to his dad along with a video clip from Rocky's wrestling days with a young Dwayne watching him.

"I love you. You broke color barriers, became a ring legend and trail blazed your way thru this world. I was the boy sitting in the seats, watching and adoring you, my hero from afar. The boy you raised to always be proud of our cultures and proud of who and what I am. The boy you raised with the toughest of love," he wrote.

He continued, "Dad, I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you, before you crossed over to the other side. But you were ripped away from me so fast without warning. Gone in an instant and no coming back. Im in pain. But we both know it’s just pain and it’ll pass."

More: Dwayne Johnson remembers late wrestler father: 'I’ll always be your proud and grateful son'

More: WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Rocky Johnson, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's father, dies at 75

Contributing: Sara Moniuszko