If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.
Hulk Hogan, the larger-than-life wrestling icon whose handlebar mustache and red-and-yellow regalia defined a generation of sports entertainment, peels back the curtain in “My Life Outside the Ring.” The 2009 memoir has returned to bestseller list’s following the wrestler’s death last week.
NO. 1 BESTSELLER
My Life Outside the Ring: A Memoir
Released by St. Martin’s Press, and co-authored by Mark Dagostino, the book offers an unfiltered look at Hogan’s personal implosion in the mid-2000s — a period marked by the unraveling of his 23-year marriage, the near-fatal car crash involving his teenage son and a highly publicized downward spiral that played out across tabloid covers and reality television.
Though Hogan — born Terry Bollea — has written about his career before, this volume distances itself from the kayfabe-laced bombast of his earlier autobiography. Here, the script is stripped down. He recounts with startling detail the moment he saw his son Nick’s crushed sports car and the existential reckoning that followed. He reflects on his own mistakes with uncharacteristic candor, including a near-suicidal bout with depression and the toll of living a life built on performance.
That’s not to say Hogan completely divorces himself from the theater of professional wrestling. The memoir is still punctuated by references to his WWE stardom, WrestleMania triumphs and behind-the-scenes clashes that shaped the golden era of sports entertainment.
The wrestling icon and actor died last Thursday at the age of 71. According to the Clearwater Police Department in Florida, Hogan died due to cardiac arrest.
Purchase Hogan’s bestselling memoir here.