The king of wrestling Hulk Hogan in 2024. Image: Keystone
The wrestler passed away on July 24, 2025, but lives on as an icon in his sport. He is back in the spotlight today in a Netflix documentary where he candidly speaks about doping and drug abuse.
Published: 22.04.2026, 20:51 Updated: 22.04.2026, 20:51
Training hard, eating healthily, and giving thanks to God: that was the formula for success preached by Hulk Hogan, who became the global face of wrestling in the 1980s. At least, that’s what he claimed at the time.
“All of that was just a lie,” Hogan eventually admitted in his latest major interview. This interview was recorded just before his passing last summer for the Netflix documentary “Hulk Hogan: Real American.” The film revisits his time on the famous “Arsenio Hall” show, where he was questioned about the use of steroids.
“The newspapers wrote untruths,” Hogan stated at the time. “I have always been strong. I never took steroids. Millions of kids believe in me, and it saddens me to see this dark cloud looming over everything I believe in.”
Looking back, Hogan confessed: “Of course, I lied to him.”
The vitamins he was taking were actually anabolic steroids and stimulants. Later in his life, Terrence Gene “Terry” Bollea, his real name, heavily relied on fentanyl, a powerful opioid analgesic. “You should normally be dead,” a pharmacist reportedly told him. “We’ve never seen a human consume so much fentanyl.”
Hogan details the dosage: “In the morning, I took two 80-milligram tablets that I placed under my gums. I had two 300-milligram fentanyl patches on my legs, in addition to six 1500-milligram fentanyl lollipops.”
During the last months of his life, Hogan’s health deteriorated. The man who was once the most impressive colossus on the planet had become too weak to unscrew a water bottle cap. Hulk Hogan passed away on July 24, 2025, at the age of 71.
The documentary titled “Hulk Hogan: Real American” was released on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, on Netflix.
(RAM)
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