Iconic wrestler Hulk Hogan passed away suddenly last year. He left behind two adult children and his wife of two years, Sky Daily. His daughter, Brooke, recently marked the first anniversary of her father’s death. Then she had to defend mourning her famous father despite their estrangement. Keep reading for all the details.
Brooke Hogan Defends Mourning Famous Dad Despite Estrangement
To the world, Hulk Hogan was an iconic wrestler with all the right moves. To Nick and Brooke, he was just “dad.” The WWE star seemed to be a doting father on the reality show Hogan Knows Best. He supported and encouraged his children to pursue their dreams. Hulk Hogan was his daughter’s biggest fan as she pursued a music career.
However, they drifted apart in the years after the reality TV show ended. Brooke Hogan married former NHL player Steven Oleksy in 2022. They welcomed twins in 2025. She later revealed that her father had never met her twins before his death.
Hulk Hogan passed away unexpectedly in July 2025. The cause of death was ruled a heart attack. In the days after her dad’s death, Brooke Hogan wrote herself out of his will, indicating that they were not on good terms at the time of his death. She later came to regret the decision and has openly mourned her late father on social media.
However, some people apparently have a problem with that. She posted a scathing rebuttal on social media, declaring that she has the right to mourn her father even though they were estranged at the time of his death.
“I can’t believe I have to make a post reminding human beings how to be human. I am receiving so much judgment over my — not yours — relationship with my father, not my brother’s relationship with my father, not my mother’s relationship with my father. They, you [and] everybody does not know exactly what I went through with that man.”
“You can take a trip down memory lane on Google and see what him and I went through publicly. If you can imagine the damage it did privately, along with other things I’ve never spoken about, [then] I am allowed to be very hurt and very allowed to draw boundaries,” Brooke Hogan said about her complicated relationship with her dad.
She Shares Emotional Tribute To Late Father
Even if the father-daughter relationship was complicated, Brooke Hogan still mourns her father. “I’ve cried every day since he died. The bags [under] my eyes, the tired [look on my face], this is grief,” she said.
July 24, 2026, was the first anniversary of Hulk Hogan’s shocking death. Brooke Hogan paid tribute to her famous father by sharing an old video of them hanging out together, eating sushi. “THIS. THIS is the dad I want and miss the most. Sushi. This was our thing,” she captioned the heartfelt post.
Only Brooke Hogan knows the truth about her relationship with her late father. Tell us in the comments if you think people are wrong to judge her for mourning him despite their estrangement.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger