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Fans fell in love with Hulk Hogan’s protective dad side when he and Brooke Hogan costarred on Hogan Knows Best. However, their relationship wasn’t always solid.
The father-daughter duo had a playful and, at times, stressful relationship during the VH1 reality show’s four-season run from 2005 to 2007. While the show also starred Hulk’s then-wife and Brooke’s mom, Linda Hogan, and his son, Nick Hogan, Brooke and the WWE wrestler stole the show.
Flash-forward to September 2023 when Brooke and Hulk (real name Terry Bollea) were back in the spotlight — but it wasn’t for their love of wrestling. Brooke raised eyebrows when she skipped Hulk’s wedding to Sky Daily.
Two years later, Brooke defended her choice to distance herself from Hulk and Linda, whom the wrestler split from in 2007, for a quieter life. The father-daughter pair were seemingly still on the outs when Hulk died in July 2025 at the age of 71.
Scroll down for a timeline of Brooke and Hulk’s estrangement:
When Did the Estrangement Start?
Brooke’s mom claimed in March 2025 that she hadn’t spoken to her daughter in nearly eight years. “It’s been 15 — or longer — years since I left Hulk Hogan and my family is in the worst mess,” Linda claimed in a since-expired video obtained by multiple outlets. “Brooke doesn’t talk to us. She’s had twins. She got married, she didn’t tell us. She had a huge fight with Terry. I don’t know how that reflected onto me, but she cut me out too.”
While the exact timeline of the estrangement between Brooke and both of her parents is unknown, she did confirm in September 2023 that she wasn’t in a good place with her dad when he married Daily.
“As we all experience this with our own families, the dynamics of a family unit continuously change over the years,” Brooke wrote via Instagram at the time. “With that being said, my family has experienced a LOT of change. With all of it happening in the public eye, I’ve had to learn how to best navigate those changes as they come, which has been difficult to say the least.”
She added: “For my own journey to healing and happiness, I have chosen to create some distance between myself and my family and am focusing on people and things that heal my heart and align with my own personal beliefs, goals, and values. I wish him well. ❤️.”
When Brooke married Steven Oleksy in June 2022, neither of her parents were in attendance.
What Happened Between Them?
A source exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2025 that Brooke’s tension with her father could have stemmed from his and Linda’s divorce in 2007, which was finalized two years later. “A lot of damage was done during their divorce,” the insider explained.
In March 2025, Brooke claimed that she was “extremely verbally and mentally abused” throughout her childhood. While she didn’t name her alleged abuser, Brooke noted that her claims were “not pointed” at her parents, but the trauma seemingly affected their dynamic. (Us Weekly reached out to Linda and Hulk for comment at the time.)
What Has Brooke Said About Their Rift?
“I have completely separate reasons for going no contact with each of my parents,” Brooke wrote via her Instagram Story in March 2025. “No contact with my mom has nothing to do with my dad, and no contact with my father has nothing to do with my mother. … This decision was made based purely on how they have each dealt with me my entire life.”
Brooke explained that the “vicious pattern” for alleged abuse she faced as a child “robbed me of any sense of self-esteem or confidence I’ve been trained to pretend to have.”
She alleged that she “so badly wanted to see good” in her family members to help and protect them. “I longed for a normal family, but it never came to fruition,” Brooke continued. “I’ve repeatedly held my hand out to help them, only to have them pull me into the darkness with them. I’ve set boundaries that were not respected, and at this point, I can truly do no more.”
Brooke argued that while she “absolutely” loves them “with every fiber of my being,” she needed space. “My heart hurts every day, and not a day passes [that] it does not affect me. Inside of me, there is a little girl who desperately wants and needs her mom and dad,” she added.
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She concluded, “No one wants this, to feel so much pain and not have parents … [and] I hope, one day, they realize, appreciate and respect why I’ve chosen to remain as quiet as possible.”
What Has Hulk Said About Their Drama?
Hulk remained quiet about his and Brooke’s estrangement prior to his death in July 2025. However, a source exclusively told Us in March 2025, “Terry not speaking to Brooke is [a] much more recent thing.”
The insider claimed that Hulk had told people “he doesn’t specifically know why Brooke won’t speak to him.” The source added, “Terry has for sure tried to be a good dad.”
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